Jeff's Big Day Out

Posted by demand-Maz's Chochlate Almond Balls

2012-01-21T09:02:00.001-08:00

Here's the chocolate almond ball recipe:

2 cups ground raw almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 tsp sea salt
1 cup shredded coconut (1/2 cup goes into dry ingredients, other 1/2 is used to roll the balls in)
3/4 cup agave nectar
2 tbsp melted coconut oil

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet. Mix & form into small balls. Roll in shredded coconut. Put in freezer. Enjoy directly out of the freezer! Yum.

Midweek at Canmore Park

2011-10-13T06:53:00.001-07:00

Another great night at the Midweek Mayhem Cross. We switched to Wednesday night to avoid the Tuesday night running group. It was always sporty trying to avoid them in the corners.

Last night in the A group there was 6 Terrascapers including Alana who raced up due to a dinner engagement. We put our practice into play and had a great start.

After the first long straight and corner the Kid and i had made the lead group. We lost contact after the first major corners and it was 3 of us sitting 5,6,7 after Peter Lawerence danced around us.

The Kid tried an early attack that was covered on the long straight. I made a move on the 3rd lap after strategically sitting in on the flats. I made a good gap but it cost me and I could not stay away. The Kid and a TRS rider caught back up and it was going to be us to the finish. The TRS rider made a gap just before the barriers, and held it to the finish. i was just in front of the Kid who probably could have beat me if he had used his lungs for riding and stopped cheering me on. It helped though, Thanks Ryan.

The other boys looked strong when i caught glimpses of them. We will have to see how the battle turned out.

How to properly Sand Bag a Cross Race

2011-09-26T19:54:00.001-07:00

If you remember from last year I gave some advice on how to place top 5 in a Cross race.

This year is how right proper win and sandbag a race:

-leave home town so no one knows you( even better is to leave taunting friend behind too)
-drive 14 hours south
-ride for 2 days, enter local cross race in proper category
-get feel of local talent
-ride more
-enter local cross race but at different location
-choose different category
-ride as hard as you can, win
-get free bottle of Gin

Okay that maybe how it unfolded but that was not my intention. I came down to Oregon for a bike trip on the cross bike. the idea was that Dave and I would ride the buff trails. I would get a feel for the cross bike and enter a weekend race.

Rode the MacKenzie River trial and ran the lava sections, super cool. Was getting forecasted flats but also got the unforecasted broken fork. Doh!!

After going form shop to shop we got what we need at Webcycyclery who were also hosting a Thursday night cross. We replaced the fork, jumped in the truck and got to the start with 15 min to go. No warm up, thought I missed the "A40" start started behind "A" but in front of "A40", waiting for them all to pass so I would not be thought of as a cheater and then fought back to race.

Rode Friday on the Phil's trail network for 3 hours.

Okay so why B group, it was earlier in the day and I could still ride after. I thought that it was the start of the season and people would come out from Portland to race. Thought the "B" group which was 35+ would bring more people out. It did not. I think I raced the same guys from the Thursday but I dropped down a category. The course was also in my favor with long flats and few run ups. I missed the bell lap and did an extra, talk about showboating. After the race I got a free bottle of gin as the race was held at Bendistillery. I did not even change and Dave and I went for a 2 hour ride, then washed in the stream and went to the HopsFest. 5 bucks get you a mug and $1 gets you a 4oz pour of way too many. Drank many samples and listened to good local musicians.

So, do I feel bad about it? A little, I hope that the guys from Bend will forgive me inthat I just wanted to get a race, ride and beerfest all in one day!!!!

End of the Race season....sort of!

2011-09-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

My "race season" ended officially on Aug. 13th with the end of the TR4 in Canmore. Completing stage 8 was easier this year and it was I who was waiting for Alana to finish her victory lap of the bar and not vice versa. Actually she usually just leaves me there when she gets tired.

TR3 and TR4 went well but took some moments of reflection and input from friends to realize this. It was in my mind to win the BCBR, TR3 and TR4. Second in all left me with the "always the bridesmaid....."feeling.

TR3/4 was interesting as a tactical race. After day one I knew I couldn't get the time back from Ian but made him work on Day 2. Day 3 I had to run a smart race with Coach Cal riding most excellent and threatening my spot. I could not go too hard as I still had 4 more days to go. Just so happens the Day 3 was a crazy vertical day and moderating the pace was not always in the cards. Day 1 of the TR4 saw Simon take the lead but I caught sight of him near the end of the day. Good battle with Simon as we rode within sight of each other most of the race. Thanks to Craig and Jonny for the chase car cheering while I imploded inwards into a black ball of pain holding Simon off the last pavement climb of Day 2.

Day 3 unfolded as precisely. I held Simon's wheel for the first half of the day jockeying back and forth. I attacked just before the top of Jumping pound ridge then tried to stay out of sight. Things were going right proper until the double slash on the Cox Hill downhill, one switchback from the trees.

SO that was it. Aug 13th happened and it was back to work and to slowly dig myself out of the hole that trying to juggle work, training and athletes creates.

One shining light was the 4 weeks until the Oregon trip with Dave on my cross bike.

4 Months too Long

2011-07-31T16:30:00.000-07:00

So....like how are you.......ummmmm, what's up...... been too long.

Got busy I guess.

Salty Dog-check, another battle with Leighton although we didn't see much of each other until the last 4 minutes. Not kidding we were riding just our of sight of each other the whole race.

Iron Maiden/ Organ Grinder-check, raced Elite and got a suprise 7th using the start slower finish moderate approach. Organ Grinder got the "Fastest Old Guy" really that is what the plaque ways! With all the rain and sun it was like ridin g3 different courses throughout the day. "skills" was defined as staying upright on bike.

Kananaskicker-check, poorly marked, poorly organized, poor course information. POOR!
yes did get ass kicked by Leighton and Ian, Chapeau Boys!

BCBR-check, field depth of 70!!!??? really that many 40+ men. Battled all week with Patrick from the Netherlands and Andy from West Van. Too much to put here may delve more into it later. Wore the jersey for one day and defended 2nd with tactics and strategy.

Work, work, work.

One week until both the TR3 and TR4.

Last post was about getting cagey in April. i have since got rid of that and now have the August fatigue. Hard to hold on to the razors edge when you train and do a physical job.

Photos for ya!

Getting Cagey!!

2011-04-18T07:19:00.000-07:00

With my cycling classes starting in November last year, I am getting a bit cagey waiting to ride outside and race.

Our trips this year have been great but you never really push yourself until you get into a race. It would be good to know the upper limits of things and discover a whole new world of discomfort.

There is a race in Edmonton this weekend and I hope it still goes!

Like, the kinda, biggest week ever

2011-04-11T06:47:00.001-07:00

It all just fell into place. The roads got dry and the weather turned almost agreeable this last week.

I rode to class, ran, core class, meet Lisa on 22 mid week, class, then the big weekend. Outside of stage racing this was one of the biggest weeks of training I have ever had.

You can train by just riding, intuitive, and you can train by numbers, scientific. The best is somewhere in between but that requires some experience. After years of training and coaching I have learned a few things and this week was the happy little, well treed, bungalow of marriage of both. During the week I concentrated on hitting my wattages and resting well. By Thursday I was feeling great and set some new PB in wattage versus hear rate.

Friday was a good rest day and I had the house to myself. Saturday was a chilly yet good solo ride south of the city. I met Steve and Henry in Bragg and rode with them until hwy 8.

Andrew is new to the city and is keen on meeting new people and riding partners. He was chatting up this guy but he was shifty and from the wrong side of the fence.

The "guy" did not seem to want to stop and talk but Andrew persisted. He was mumbling a bit but it sounded like Andrew was saying in case of an emergency I was too "gamey" and that this "guy" looked strong, good watts/kilo, and well marbled.

Sunday was a scheduled Terrascape ride in Cochrane. Andrew and I rode out to meet the crew and do the ride. What we did not expect was the 40 kph headwind at 9:30am. We just made the ride, thank goodness Cesar did not leave us behind. Grand Valley, Horse Creek and then a change of partners. Jason,Lisa and I headed back home down the Cowboy Trail.

Lisa went south and Jason and I headed East. I could have skirted the Springbank hill but when your with The Bear, you just don't do thinkgs like that. So up the gut we went at the end of my big week. The best part was it was all downhill, literally, to our new house in Discovery Ridge.

Hydrate, Stretch, Rest.

CELEBRATE REST WEEK, go on I dare you!!!!!!!

Sunny Pictures ot keep you going

2011-03-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

Alana on the Hangover trail. Do not do this hung over!!!

And this is why:

Big drop offs on every corner

Faizan showing some composure

Matthew threading the needle and not falling over the edge!

Friends join in the Fun in Sedona

2011-03-10T17:20:00.000-08:00

Matthew and Faiz Testing out the latest in Optical Fashion. Has anyone ever heard of "Blue Blockers?? My parents swear by them. LOL

Part of the 2009 Cape Epic crew, Matthew and Faiz, joined us today for a spin. Faiz is celebrating his birthday Monday and wanted to get away from the Big Smoke for a bit.

They put in a few hours last night and were prepared to ride all day if need be. Good thing as it was a long one today.

Started out on Made in the Shade and tried to find Highline. Missed that so just kept on riding. Around the corner to Templeton, then the super fun Baldwin. Off Baldwin we found the back side of Highline. 20 min of hiking up hill got us on the plateau, and we were off. The riding was good and very reminiscent of Highline in Canmore. Then the trail petered off to what resembled a hihg mountain goat trial. Lots of on and off. Finally we were back at the Bike and Bean. Alana and Faiz, Tactical Unit A, covered the iced caps, while Tactical Unit B went for Fish tacos and burritos. All was going to plan until one of the T.U.B. members got on his bike. Blown Shock!

Off to HQ. Quick nutrition. Visit B and B. New O ring. $20 USD. Back on trial.

Easy cruising in the afternoon, while the sun set and the red colors came to life.

Good Friends, Good Day!!

Faiz finishing the climb in style.

Same for Alana and Matthew.

Sunny Photos From Phoenix

2011-03-09T16:28:00.000-08:00

Me and the Full Carbon Fiber Bottecchia Gardena on Trial 100 in Phoenix.

Papa Neilson at 63 years old enjoying McDowell Race loops.

Me and the Bottecchia SP9 enjoying the day.

Ahh the Post Ride meal. Apple Cider-it's dry but you can drink it. Tuna salad, Steamed Spinach( Rice and steak included but not shown )

It's not the thorns you need to worry about

2011-03-09T16:25:00.000-08:00

It's the little pricks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Beautiful Riding

2011-03-02T07:11:00.001-08:00

We have been doing some great riding and finding new routes and great stops. Anyone been to Cave Creek? It's like Bragg Creek but where the crazy people go.

Small rustic and eclectic. We are going there today for our day off and recovery ride. The pictures will tell the tale.

Until then here is some sunny pictures:

okay I knew my new Bottecchia (pronounced=Bo-tech-e-a)was awesome just riding it on the rollers but wow!!! It is hard to believe that every ounce of effort in the pedals gets translated into forward motion. The frame is stiff but the road compliance is border line comfy. i am running 120psi and it's not bad at all. Hard to explain, i feel the vibrations sort of, but it does not cause fatigue or discomfort.

Night time pool side with my new Cardinals Cup. i knew it would keep my drink cold but wow. The smooth lip translates every drop into thirst quenching pleasure. The mug is frozen and is border line uncomfortable in my hand. I am running soda and fresh, like grown here fresh, limes. It does not cause tipsy-ness or fatigue.

Land of the Big

2011-03-02T07:02:00.000-08:00

What's that you need it bigger???

What a ham or maybe just a cheeseball.

They just had to put these two together didn't they.

Way too long

2011-02-28T16:21:00.000-08:00

I know it has been way to long but i have now got lots off the stove and have some time for catching up.

I'm in Phoenix again with Alana and Lisa. Alana's my wife and Lisa is our good friend. We have been looking forward to this for some time. We are here to train. (yes that was a period.)

Funny because we are staying at a beautiful place called Toscana where the conceirge, we are convinced will drive yo over to the mall to shop. Lisa hooked us up and it is nice to be living a little of the decadent life.

We have huge rooms, our own showers, large TV, hot tub and pool. It is also located next to some excellent roads for biking.

The ladies flew down and since I had an extra day I drove. 26 hours of driving with one stop just south of Salt Lake City.

Road Shots:

Montana

Idaho

Huge Budweiser ad on side of silos, must be at least 100ft tall

Southern Utah ( no Snow!!!!!!!!!)

Arizona, by Zion National Park

Flagstaff where they just got tons of snow but it was melting fast.

PHX Part 3

2011-01-03T14:28:00.000-08:00

Well know that i am back it seems like a dream. The riding went really well and Alana and I covered some serious ground.

We did a TT style day south of the homestead with long 20 minute Tempo.

Learning from our Sunday ride we revamped the route a little. I did an extra lap of the hill and Alana got a break away bonus. i was to catch her before the Chevron. After 1:14:00 of riding I rolled into the station and she had beat me. Curses.

Refueling at the Chevron. i think they mean cars.

We followed the #87 to Gilbert and that took us to McDowell Rd. A way better route go home on. It has long stretches between lights and a bike lane for most of it. We were just about home when we met one of the "JC Rivers" on a desolate side street. JC Rivers is brand of local beef jerky sold only on the corner of Brown Rd and Meridian. He gave us his run down: 17 years on the corner, less sodium, made fresh each week, only natural ingredients, etc. I must say for a connoisseur of jerky this was some of the best i have had. Maybe because of the long day with Tempo and Threshold work but even today it is still great. It will have to become tradition to stop for some on the way home. the only thing missing was a cold brew.

Wednesday Morning We:

Morning Starbucks before.....

Los Favritos, pretty much the best little taco stand ever. Steak Breakfast burrito-$4.25

. When we arrived it was 21 C. Thursday............10C. What's with that?? We waited out some snow storms.....What's with that? And made the dash to Usery Pass hill to get in a few laps before calling it a week.

Snow on the ground means dressing warmly, no matter where you are. Nice Booties!!!

Sunny Phoenix Daze Part 2

2010-12-29T13:34:00.001-08:00

Not being satisfied with just a 2 hour ride Alana and I grabbed $ and a lot of food and just headed out. We have done a fair amount of MTB riding in PHX but haven't been on the road in 4 years. We did a bit of research and knew some of the areas, so we just headed in that direction.

Alana heading up and over Usery Pass. (Got the Phoenix sign in the background for those non believers. Just like the moon walk!!)

This side of Usery Pass is a low grade subtle climb. the other side? not so much! It is 6km and gains 200m. More on this side in another post. We headed up the Bush Hwy, hehe, to the major State Route 87. There is only about 6km of tight road and the rest of the day was pretty nice roads with good asphalt.

North on Fort McDowell Road we saw this:

Pecan trees being shaken up and collected. We knew by the short sleeves and shorts we were not in Calgary but this confirmed it. We rode up a bit farther and sampled some fresh nuts off the tree. Wow what a difference.

We followed this Dirt road up and thought about our Bike friends back home on their cross bikes. We were qutie far into the ride and came upon Rio Verde. A multi course golf community that has no convenience store. We kept pushing on and had a low moment when we found out that we were as far as we were going to get form home but still 25 minutes from food or water. I had run out long ago and Alana had a bit to share.

We made it to Troon and headed home. The fear of dieing was past and we took numerous breaks on the way back.

Alana hitting the 160km mark, a US century ride. Amazing from a girl who only started walking 3 weeks ago after 4 weeks no load bearing on her foot. Bunion surgery be damned, can't slow down the Tenacious Terrier. Well done Alana.

170km in Dec and home just in time for the 55+, Happy Hour. Although a bit late we both felt good and still went riding the next 2 days. More to come.

Now we go to our Reporter in the feild

2010-12-27T08:12:00.001-08:00

Thanks Jeff, this is Jeff reporting to you from the sunny and warm city of Apache Junction on the East end of Phoenix.

I have been following the biking exploits of Jeff and Alana while they are on xmas vacation with their bikes. The two took the late Reindeer flight into Phoenix on xmas eve but not to late ot clutter the skies for Santa. "Early to bed, early to put the bikes together. Their was no usual xmas day fanfare as we made a last minute decision to come" says a beaming Alana.

Although they were up just a little late, they were quick to assemble the bikes and go for a 2.5 hour ride before family commitments and dinner.

We followed them up the Apache Trail on their way to Canyon Lake around the corner of the Superstition Mountains. The road is twisty and has some good grades to it. We viewed the pair being slowed up descending by the cars that could not negotiate the curves as well as the 2 cyclist.

Beautiful Canyon Lake minutes from the tiny town of Tortilla Flats, where it rumored to have the best Prickly Pear cactus ice cream.

Its getting Better out there

2010-12-13T07:36:00.000-08:00

Burstall Pass 2 weeks in a row?? Yep, but with 15cm of new snow and the white stuff still falling it turned into a good little day. The boys promise me that there is skiing to be had that is not a 2 hour hike in!!!!

Rob coming to a stop after some sweet turns. Did he or did he not fall over?????????

Andrew cruising the pow pow!!

TJ beating the up track into submission.

Balance in Fun and Exercise

2010-12-10T07:57:00.000-08:00

I was going thru my phone pictures the other day and found this little gem taken the morning of Grey Cup Sunday. We both were getting our run in before the game and all the beverages and snacks. Who says you can't have both. (well I guess the Rider fan who will go nameless that started drinking at noon S.P.)

The most Beautiful contry in the world!!!

2010-12-06T09:11:00.001-08:00

I know a lot of K-Country from biking or hiking but this Alpine Touring is stunning. the small amount of snow we have had has just sprinkled the mountains allowing the contours and contrasts to come out.

We were sporting a bigger group with 6 of us heading up to Burstall Pass. Lots of people on the trial but our group slowly made its way thru.

We saw Brett coming out. He was up early and was testing things out on day one and didn't wan to push it to much. TJ and Meg were up the trial.

Beautiful views and good company. We even got some turns in, although there was the occasional sounds of rocks pinging off skis.

On the way out we met this small man who was just shoveling S%@T.

X Training Season

2010-11-30T09:18:00.000-08:00

Even though cycling classes have started and I am in the regime of working out I am looking forward to getting some true Cross Training in. I have spent several years slowly getting my Alpine Touring gear together and got my first day last Saturday. Marty, and Marc played tour guide for Rob B. and I on the Healy Pass trail. This was a fun, no drop, go eat lunch day that proved to be just that and awesome.

Starting out in the Sunshine Parking lot. Ready to go. i made a rookie mistake and had my boots done up tight to avoid heel rub only to find out that causes really sore calves. Within 20 minutes it felt like 2 warring tribes of wood nymphs were have a bonfire contest in my boots. I told Marc this to a "ohhhh, ya loosen those up". Still the damage was done and I would spend the day and even up to 4 days later with sore abused calves. They work fine as long as they are moving but when I get up after sitting I sometimes fall over.

We made it up to one of the small frozen lakes and had lunch. It was the first day out for all but Marc so we turned around while we were still having fun. We had a quest join us for lunch, can you spot him??

Can't wait to get out again this weekend!!

Cross Season Winds Down

2010-11-17T05:41:00.000-08:00

With the first snowfall here and our Alberta season over time to get back on the trainer and prepare for next year but some pictures first.

Cross is Fun

2010-11-08T09:55:00.001-08:00

i have been desperately trying to get in Cross shape. I have been running hill repeats, setting up practice sessions, but there is no substitute for racing. With all the traveling I went into my first Cross race, The BK Memorial, then our own Beans and Barley. This last weekend was the Cross Madness in Red Deer. First race bad, Second race better, last race 4th!!!!

Here's how you get fourth in open Men:
-Sneak into Open Men category by being Elite MTB.
-work really hard to try to peak in 3 weeks
-what until National CX weekend and race local
-go to start line with 4 other guys
-finish

This is my best cross finish ever!!!!! Too bad the season is over as I am feeling like i could start to be more competitive in 2 more weeks. Ah but it is time for classes and base training.

Huffing and Puffing up the Stairs

The Kid Airborne

Cesar making his Move

I am not a Traitor!!!!

2010-10-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

For those who are getting suspicious of my time running don't worry I am still a biker at heart.

I have been enjoying the runs and I am conducting a bit of an experiment on myself as well. I am adding running Tuesday and Thursday morning to increase the volume a bit but work on my tempo and threshold as well. the workouts are about an hour long and filled with kilometer repeats. Mike got an eye opener today with the "tempo" experiment but i am sure he will be kicking ass next week. He responses well to training and is an excellent runner.

Alana, Mike, Roy (the dog) and I early morning at the track.

Fall What Evers

2010-10-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

I finally have running legs!!!! i have been waiting for my legs to stop trying to turn circles as I bound down the road. More like a deer crossing open pasture then a Kenyian at Boston. I can now run 1 hour without dying and feeling like i am going to snap tendons and ligaments in my hamstrings and hips.

i ran with Gerry and Mike, form the old adventure race days. Fantastic, fun, funny. Rumor has it we're putting the team back together. It's a sign from Gad!

Bike polo on Sunday. 5 degrees and Jack was even wearing shorts. Crazy.

Indoor cycling classes start next week for the focus changes a bit but I am still looking forward to some variety of the weekends.

Razors Edge

2010-10-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I finally dusted off the MTB and could not say "no" to Kate any more. She has been more persistent in trying to go riding. I had to clean the drive train, put on the rear shock, change front tires, and ignore the seized back hub. What?? Yep the last time I rode a mtb bike was the TransRockies Aug 14th. Almost 2 months off.

Don't worry I rode in France and have been on my cx bike but not a lot.

We got a late start, which you do on a long weekend. Hit the Bowness pastry shop, and then the road. Kate and Alana could not decide where to go but I have been very interested in the new trials developing around Exshaw.

Razors Edge branches off Jewel above the Quaite junction. We had planned on a long ride but after the slow start and coffees we decided on Quaite to jewel to Razor.

The trial is rough to start but soon turn into joyous mountain biking. Real mountain biking. Tough drops, tough ups, of camber. All good.

The wind was vicious at the top and so strong that it made it near impossible to ride down. it would just grab your front tire and you would ride off the trial. Like you were a remote control rider with a bad operator.

It's Steeper than it looks, Nice work Alana

The wind was so strong and gusty that we had to walk down the open rock face sections. A little disappointing but I will be back to do this again. probably in the morning.

Look out Toby here comes Kate

Fat and Sassy Season

2010-10-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

Once a year I sit back, eat, drink and put training on the back burner. I call it Fat and Sassy season. I have taken a lot of ribbing when I say Fat, the sassy part people get and is usually porportional to the number of Guinness i have had. In the time between after the TR to 4 weeks later i had put on 12 pounds. Yep that is 3 pounds a week. You know you are indulging then.

Last weekend was I spent 4 days in Ontario with long time friends re-acquainting, laughing, eating, drinking. The only exercise coming from 2 dips in a very cold lake, one intentional, one not! and climbing up a forest fire watch tower to view the beautiful fall colors in the trees.

Up late, sleep in, bacon for breakfast, happy hour at 4pm. Wow not the same guy from mid summer.

Is it a bad thing? Do I regret it? NO!

It is my sanity check. for 10 months of the year I focus on getting in and maintaining my race form. It encompasses my whole life, from what i eat to what time I go to bed. It is a 10 month mental interval and as with any interval you need a rest period. Each fall is my rest period.

i have started to train again. I will keep the amount and type of food in check now. I will, however, still have a beer. Not 12 but a few social beers over the winter keep me sane and allow me to hang with my friends in a different way. So, let's have a beer. But the best beer is the one you deserve so let's ride first!!!

Cross Practice

2010-09-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

5 degress, wet, overcast, Fall.......The perfect time for Cross riding.

5 of us got together last night to practice racing. A short 4 min loop with corners, hills, sand pit, and cardboard barriers. Off the start I had the lead but I only think so because I made the course and everyone one wanted to see where I went. By Lap 2 Steve, pulled around after the sand pit and up the hill, Alana crashed into the cardboard barriers while battling Carlos. Lap 3 saw Katy and I chase Steve and into the last lap Katy put 2 bike lengths into me in the sandpit and had it in the bag until she slipped on the uphill run. Alana made a come back but could not reel Carlos in.

We were going for a few easy ones until Steve yelled "hot lap" and it was on again for 1. I laid everything i had into the flat parts and barely made it across the line. Plasma lung from start to finish. Now that's racing!!

Mt Ventoux

2010-09-09T23:55:00.000-07:00

Having not done anything since the Tri off we go to summit Mt Ventoux.

We stayed in the small town of Carpentras the and, mistakenly, were not in a hurry to get going. The nights are coooling off and we thought we would start a little later so it would be warm. hmmmm.

WE had done a tiny bit of recon and knew it would take us between 1.5 and 2 hours. I gave Alana a 10 minute head start and we were off.

The route starts in a small town named Bedoin. We knew we were in the right place due to the fact that as we were changing in the parking lot over 50 cyclist passed us by. All different shapes and sizes. Bikes ranged from the 10,000 euro special to the 1988 pseudo mtb. A fair number of the mob were sporting the white hair.

The day was bright but the summit was covered in cloud. Jason had said to watch for this but we were going anyway. The climb can be divided into 3 parts the shallow approach to the forest which takes you thru Colombe which is unrelenting, the forest to Chalet Reynard which is forest covered and relentless, and the barrain upper slopes that are relentless.

Jason is correct in saying that this is an exercise in strength endurance. My cadence had to have been between 40-55rpm. There are only a few spots on the whole climb where it deviates from the average grade.

I met up with Alana in the forest and she seemed quite relaxed and as usual was chatting away and making friends.

Love the self protrait while barely going fast enuf to stay up right.

I must say that I did get a bit bored in the forest. I think I was going 11kph and I would stare at the next corner for a few minutes until I finally got there. Up, up and up. They have small markers on the way to let you know just how slow you are going but man do you climb. Hundreds of meters would fall away in such a short distance.

Passing by the Chalet Reynard you see cyclists who have summited and returned for a recharging cafe and snack or those still on their way up that need a little kick. We were doing this sans arret and roade right on by.

So about that cloud! You could feel some wind in the forest but it was refreshing. After the Chalet it was war. Mt Ventoux stands for Mt Windy and it is not just a play on a clever name. It got colder and windier the whole approach. The views where outstanding. This mountain rises from rolling vineyards. The "Giant of Provence" is seen from so many places and you can see so many places. Just before entering the cloud I took one last look and then it was dark.

The final push was exhilerating. The names of the TdF riders are on the road. This is where attacks happened, careers were made(lost), survival for some, victory for other. I turned the last corner in a bank of cloud and pow I was at the top. Masses of riders taking pictures, gear up for the descent.

22km, 1600m of climbing

Pastry Table of Champions

The ride down was not as fun as I would have liked. I was pretty chilled and developed the shivers. Not normally a concern but a bike that is too small, too loose, and too supple it is very un-nerving. I could only go for a bit then I would create my own speed wobble and have to slow right down. Jumping jacks and getting out of the wind helped and we flew down the final section.

I think I could get into this Col climbing thing. SO much to do so little time.

Monaco TriStar111-yep a Triathlon post

2010-09-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

So what could be sillier than completing 2 stages races in 2 months......well 3 in 3.....but how about a 1/2 Ironman Distance Triathlon in Monaco?????

Yep, Alana's sister Barb is an avid tri sport athlete. She runs in the pool alot because there are not a lot of sidewalks on the narrow roads, and she rides some sensational routes around her house. Cote d'Azur on one side, mountains on the other.

It was a bit of a memorial event as Barb recently lost a friend in a car accident. Barb thought that doing something big, fun and with family would be good. We agreed.

Now to the business at hand how to finish the TransRockies 7 day mountain bike race and in 3 weeks swim 1km, ride 100km and run 10km?? My good friend Robb has this expression: "when is the best time to plant and oak tree? 20 years ago. When is the second best time? Right Now!"

We started to run a little the week after the race, we ran in Paris, we ran in Dijon (yes the Mustard Capital of the world), we ran in Grasse, we ran in Opio. 3 days before the race we had run 10.5km pain free, albeit slowly.

We started to swim after getting to Barb's house on week prior. We swam in her pool, we swam at the gorgeous outdoor municipal pool, we swam in Antibes, we swam in Cannes. 2 days before the race we swam 800m pain free.

We biked. We borrowed bikes off of Jen Potts, Barb's friend and past Calgarian. Alana's bike was a bit too big, my bike a bit too small. we adjusted as best we could and got in some spectacular rides last week. I was a little leery about going out on such narrow and twisty roads, however the French drivers are incredibly accomodating to cyclists. They will sit behind you for 4 minutes until there is a good place to pass, even in a 70kph zone going uphill. No honking, no fingers, no bad looks. It is so part of the culture that is evident by the 40 plus riders we saw on our route, Tuesday 10am. This is where people come to ride. The Tour de France came by here in 2009 and I road up the hill that they used in this years Paris Nice race. The names of the pros were still on the road.

Okay to the race. Mass start swim, water temp. 23.4 wetsuit cut off 24. Alana and I were amongst the select few without a wetsuit. Oh well. We let everyone into the water then joined the confusion and anarchy that is tri swimming. I don't really like swimming that close to people but who does. I had to keep calm and just swim. It worked. I was quite comfortable and started to pass people. I caught sight of Barb and moved over a bit.

All of a sudden they person in front of me stops dead and it is like hitting a buoy. Oh what, it was the buoy. I didn't look up, Barb just grazed it and I swam head first in to it. F&*#!ng Buoy.

Out of the swim and a sort of quick change on the bike. I saw Barb in T1 and we were off. Check out the bike profile. Yep 20km long gaining 700m altitude. It was like another day at the TR.

up and down all day long. I was riding my little bike that was very sketchy going down but managed to hold on only losing it in one switch back corner. I made good time on the uphills and just rode a steady tempo. As i passed the $6000 to $10,000 road machines on my old, small, creaky bike, looking like a chehuahua humping a football, all I could hear was The Kids voice : "Ya, ya did". Why is it fun to be the dirt bag??

There is no drafting in this race but as I climbed I would see groups working together or just sitting on a guys wheel. I passed a group of 9 guys and went by each on " drafting, tsk, tsk". A few got mad and blew past me on the flat sections but I reeled them back in and left them on the hill. I was not going to be beat by cheaters!!!!!

The bike was awesome the views outstanding. The last 15 km were downhill to the run in Monaco on the F1 race course. A quick stop in T2 and I was off. I felt okay and knew my legs would come around in time. That might have been the case if I didn't start feeling bonky! I thought there was an aid station just before the downhill but there was not. I did not really have any fuel in the 30 minutes leading to the run. I was okay until the hill we would encounter each lap. I made it to the top but felt like crap. I had a caffeine gel in my hand and did it in. I had to wait until the aid station to wash it down and had to go into survival mode. Once I got some water in me and on my head i cam around and started to pick up the pace. One lap to go and I knew I was going to do it.

Yep across the line in 4:42ish. I did not have to wait long for Alana at 5:20 and Barb at 6:00. A great day for us all. We had a slight route navigation problem the morning of the race but the day was enjoyable for us all.

Barb had the fastest downhill speed at 65.1kph Alana and Barb both got stung by jelly fish and I had to sacrifice a pair of underwear to make a number belt. The last time we did a tri was 8 years ago in Lethbridge with Barb, her husband Brent and Evan. I like these things. Maybe more in the future.

Yep, a full type A with their bike cover.

Alana at bike drop minutes before the start.

Celebrating with real Champagne from Champagne. Great job Team Heise-Neilson!

TransRockies 2010

2010-09-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

So Mical and I headed back to TR after last years win. Lots would be different this year.

The competition was up all across the board. Wendy Simms and Norm Thibault were back after having baby Tycho. Wendy and Norm are seasoned stage race vets and have trophies and leaders jerseys from both the TR and BCBR. Gretchen Reeves and Cannon Shockley are from the USA and have done BIG adventure races and the Great Divide Race. Pros were there for the TR3 and Open Men. The starts would be fast and so would the rest of the day.

The course headed Fernie to Canmore, something it has not done in 5 years. Why? A brief history: Back in da day when TR started it was to be similar to TransAlps. But in Europe there is a road connecting everywhere to everywhere. Logistics are not that big a deal. In the remote Rocky Mountains linking two points can almost be impossible. Travel Alberta was one of the main sponsors and allowed passage thru some of these remote areas. Now from what I understand and is no way the truth, it became too big a pain in the arse to deal with all the permits and red tape. TR went to BC where they are happy that people use the outdoors.

Travel Alberta is back as a sponsor and asked TR to come back. Yes, they asked TR. So what does this mean? and why the tangent. Day 3! You can flash forward if you want but Day 1 and 2 are worth a quick read too.

Day 1-Rain!!!!!!!!!!!!! After last years flood and cold weather I was not impressed to start our week in the rain. It had been pouring in the afternoon for days and the course was WET!!! It was a Time Trial start. We started 30 seconds behind Wendy and Norm and 30 seconds in front of Gretchen and Cannon. Fun way to start a race but slow and wet. We caught Wendy and Norm before the first big climb, Wendy was having chain troubles. Gretchen and Cannon caught us 1/2 way up the first climb and passed us. We were able to keep them in sight for a while but the overall is not won 45 minutes into a 26 hour race. Mical and I went at a good but doable pace and finished 2nd on the day. 1:43 back but with a small buffer over Wendy and Norm. No jerseys or as Wendy says: "gotta do laundry".

Day 2-Way Too Fast!!!!!!!!!!!

So I have always been impressed with Mical's riding. She is very good technically but her starts are awesome and she has just gotten faster, as I painfully, very painfully found out this day. The day started out of Fernie and up the Coal Creek Road. It looks heinous on the profile but is not that bad a grade, UNLESS.........you are trying to keep pace with a train of pros and top riders going 24kph up hill. I was able to hold on for 20 minutes but then had to call Mical off as I popped. We tried our best to get back on with some of the guys but we all seemed to move at the same pace. Gretchen and Cannon passed about the hour mark and we had to let them go again. I was trying to recover and Mical had to draft for me for the rest of the day.

We went over the top of the climb into a trail called Porky Blue. A ballistically long descent that you could not take your hands off the brakes. All you could smell was burnt brake pads and metal. I alternated between front and back just to let them cool a little. The issue was that if you took your brakes off you would get going too fast to be able to brake for the next corner. There was some fun stuff and some switch backs that would be really good if you were not racing. I made it to the last one and decided to walk it. Good Call! I then tried to get back on my bike with 200 meter to go to the road. Bad Call!! I fell down hill and had to pick myself up and run to the road. From there on in I had to hang on Mical's wheel and was able to give her a break every now and then.

I was feeling pretty bad that I could not help out but as Mical said "that's what being a team is all about." Thanks Pardner!!

Shuttle buses to Elkford, where they are always excited to see you and put on a good host. Terry Ann from Embody was there and we poached a 30 minute massage. Wow did that set us right!

Day 3-Elkford to Etherington- Remote Wilderness.

So back to the prologue. We went up and over Fording Pass. It has never been done before for a race let alone a MTB race. Why? Part of the dealings with Travel Alberta. They asked TR what they needed and they said better access. They got it.

Crazy start on an logging/access road that was slliicck after all the rain the night before. Mical made a point to move to the front again and I was able to hold on a bit longer. I had to call her off the front peleton again but we were around other fast riders so it was not that bad. We hit the aid station fast and then had a long hike a bike. We may not be proud of it or like it but Mical and I can push our bikes fast. The steeper the better. We had a jump on the other teams and were going hard up the climb. We saw them at one point several minutes back but then did not see them again for the day. Fording pass is awesome!!! there are huge cliffs and valleys. Straight up walls of rock. The pass itself is desolate. You really do feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. This is what makes the TR special.

A crazy fast descent where we caught Marty and Steph from Rocky Mountain. They had to single speed there bike after tearing off the derailer. I was following Steph and he got a flat, seconds later I got one. I did not want to give up the lead and lose our advantage by stopping but I would have to ride to gingerly to the finish line. Mical and I had the tire fixed in less then 1 minute!!!!! It was unreal. We charged hard to finish and got our win and a good gap of time. We were 12 minutes in the lead and would not have to do laundry that night.

Day 4-Etherington to Achor D- Grass Pass!!!

Good thing we have Mical's parents as support. They are always there at the finish with some real food and water, a change of clothes and shower supplies. Dave washes bikes, Brenda takes care of the host tent. They know that you get grumpy, tired, and can't think at times but it just rolls off them. Dave also likes to ride when he can. He scouted the start of Day 4, good thing he did. He said the single track comes up fast. I checked it out in my warm up and knew Mical and I had to get tactical. We would go for the hole shot; we wanted to be the first ones in so as not to be having to fight around the other riders. With the TR3 crowd gone we didn't think anyone would want to charge hard off the start. After the first corner I went to the front and started to slowly wind it up. Barry Wicks said to Mical "I guess you are leading us out". Mical responded with a hehe as she knew exactly what was going to happen. I thought the Pro Men would come around but they didn't. Mical and I really did get the hole shot and lead the entire field for the first 25 minutes. It sounds great but I was full of anxiety that I was going too slow and holding people up. No one complained so we kept on going. We got to the road hooked a ride down the pavement, rode strong up Grass Pass, hike a bike over Sullivan and charged to the finish. We had a good day that showed we were back in action.

From the TR report that day:

"though the ride of the day must certainly be credited to the Open Mixed leaders Mical Dyck and Jeff Neilson. After leading the field in the first section of single track they stormed through the race to be the 4th team across the finish line overall and first in their division."

Day 5-Anchor D to Little Elbow Campground

Another Crazy start. Mical was sitting 5th wheel behind Kona and Rocky Mountain. I truly believe she was one of the fastest riders in the race. She seemed quite content to hang out with the big boys as the start went up several hundred feet in less than a km and left most people in difficulty. There was some good single track off the start and a crazy behind the seat descent. Mical wiped near the top and I followed suit at the bottom. We rode a conservative day, still first and looking forward to Day 6.......that is until we crossed the finish line.

We were the lucky ones we got in under 5 hours and that is when one of K countries infamous summer storms arrived. Tents were being blown around. Rain and hail was threatening to collapse the pop up tent and the temperature dipped and never did recover. Wet and cold, just like last year.

I got my belt buckle today recognising that I had entered 5 TransRockies. What a sucker I am!!!

Day 6-If you are going thru Hell, just keep going.

It is one thing to head out in to the unknown, face adversity, bare down, grit teeth, and triumph no matter the suffering. It is another to head out knowing the discomfort and suffering you are going to face. Day 6 was not unlike the Bow 80, 2009. Cold and raining at the start with only colder and rainier at the top. Mical did not do the Bow 80 last year but she can now relate to all that did. Soaked on the road and heading up Jumping Pound Wendy and Norm caught us and passed us. The climb was wet and slow and after 5 days of riding - I walked a lot.

We had heard that they may divert the course before Cox Hill at the Summit trial approach. They did but not for us. We were apparently "too fast". They ended up diverting most of the field at the first entrance and sending people down the road. Others, Alana and Trish, made it to the Summit trail and worried about safety, correctly diverted themselves down.

This is one of the only criticisms I have of the TR. The motos left early to see how the trail was and the weather up top. They obviously did not leave a person at the safe diversion point and that allowed about 27 teams to go "Over The Top". They were informed, even before the race, from people such as Cory Wallace, Pat Doyle, and Trish Grajczyk that going over Cox was a bad idea. We had all done it last year at the Bow 80 and they had shut the course down for the first time in history.

Never the less there was no course marshall at Summit trail. Since we had no idea where Wendy and Norm were, it was turn down and lose our overall or go "Over the Top" and vie for seocnd place on the day but retain our overall. I road past the turn off by 100m and waited for Mical. I looked at her, soaked to the bone and cold, and asked if she was okay. She said yes, I didn't waste and time chit chatting and we went for it. Not so bad when you are climbing but miserably cold descending. I slowed to talk with Mical only once and could not coherantly talk as my jaw muscles were locked up from shivering so much. It came out as " w ha to ke gon to ke war" (We have to keep going to keep warm). That is when Mical let me know she had worn thru her back brake and was doing the Cox Hill descent with just the front. We made it down and warmed up on the road a bit. We got to Aid 2 and there were tons of people there????????????????? They had all huddled in a warming tent that looked ever so enticing.

Mical and I had a hot chocolate, food and water. I could see Mical looking at the tent. Alana came out and explained that they had diverted people and the stage was a mess. Still with Wendy and Norm in front we had to keep going. I told Mical that we could not get involved with the warming tent and we had to just finish the day. Off into the cold and muddy wilderness. We at least were on home turf and knew where we were going. My eyes were full of mud as my glasses were covered and useless. I picked up a particularly big chunk about 3 km from the finish that did not flush out.

Wendy and Norm got the stage win. We got "Mommed".

We crossed the finish line and were instantly attacked by our support and other helpers. Mike Sarnecki had a wet towel and got rid of most of the debris around my eyes. Dave Dyck had to help me out of my clothes as none of my fingers or thumbs worked. I didn't even know they were there except that I could see them. Off to the showers to get warm and spend 20 minutes cleaning mud and horse shit out of my eyes.

I still could not see properly and the medics said I had scratched my cornea. My sight in my left eye was like looking thru a frosted glass window. They said it would get better, even by the next day.

Day 7-Back to Canmore

The last day is never gifted to you. Maybe because they design it that way or maybe because you are so tired and just want it to be over. Alas, Mical was set to once again work on her World Cup starts and hammered. I had to call her out of 5th wheel and she quite pleasantly towed my sorry ass down the Trans Canada to Quaite Valley trail head.

I was to find out that she enjoyed very much laying the boots to me all week. Something about the mix of how great she was feeling this year and a small measure of payback????????

We cruised at a good pace when Pat Doyle and Craig Bartlett caught up to us. They were in second place in the Mens 80+ and were looking for a stage win. We tried to stay out of their way and got to follow fro a while.

Results: First Day 7 and First overall!!!!! We had newspaper interviews and TR interviews. Another week of bike riding and some new shirts.

Thanks to everyone who helped out on the week. Tim and Tracy drove our car back for us and then drove it to Canmore. What service!!!!

We won entry to next years race and will have to see how things pan out for that.

Updates Let's Start with BCBR

2010-08-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long pause in blogging. Trying to fit in 2 stage races and a house reno has taken a lot of time. I would not consider myself a good writer in the first place and trying to fit it in took the DFL spot on my agenda.

BUT....

BCBR

Another great year at the BCBR. The race itself took care of some of it's short comings from last year and made signifcant gains as a race. They seem to be getting the swing of things. The food was good, the course was great, the vollies helpful, etc... The only thing is the logistics, impossible to do anything about if you want to ride all the great trials they have.

Day 1 and 2 saw us racing up with Catharine and Geoff while running real scared of Wendy and Norm. Catarine Pendrel and Geoff Kabush were, and are again our National Champs, Wendy Simms and Norm Thibault have won countless stage races and own a clothing botiques supply of leaders jerseys.

Day 0 was a sub 10 minutes Time Trial to sort the field. Made for an interesting day then off to Naniamo. Our Friends Paul and Fazian won the open mens and have the jerseys to prove it**.

The starts were fast again this year due, in part, to the solo riders. They pace would climb and climb until selections were made and groups formed.

AS I am writing this 6 weeks after the event I will give the glossed over write up. The positions didn't change much, Geoff and Catharine 1st, Mical and I 2nd, Wendy and Norm 3rd. Wendy and Norm did beat us on Day 5 and Day 6 and took 2nd on the podium for the days. Our overall did not change but the battle was always on.

Mical was riding very strong and matched the intensity of the starts. I knew things would be diferent this year as she has been living in Victoria and riding lots. My technical ability came around again, "skills Camp With Mical".

I am signed up again for next year and will see how it goes again.

Alana and her Partner Kate won the open womens category in a fierce battle with 2nd. I will try to convince her to do a guest blog as some to the stories are awesome.

Lisa won the Masters Womens clear across. Lots of laundry now but not during the race.

I made the Papers

2010-08-16T15:00:00.001-07:00

Here is a link to the Globe and Mail!!!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/only-the-grittiest-survive-long-long-race/article1673891/

Posts soon to follow.

Following the TransRockies 2010

2010-08-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

The TransRockies starts this Sunday in Beautiful Fernie BC. Day 1 is a 40km course around Fernie with some sweet single track.

if you would like to follow along you can sign up for their NewLetter and get daily updates. Sign up at the bottom of the webpage.

http://transrockies.com/trc/

Alana is racing with Trish from the DeadGoats. Lisa is racing solo in the TR3. Mical and I are defending our Open Mixed title against Wendy Simms and Norm Thebault, 2 time winners, and Gretchen Reeves and Cannon Stockley, Pro adventure racer and sponsored rider.

The action will be good in all categories with a great course.

I found my camera-random shots

2010-08-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

The Kid Sporting the Super Fast Side Burns.

Jay staying warm at the Giver'ator.

Believe it or not, it's the end of May in Southern California.

Checking the purity of the Wooden Medal, Salty Dog 2010.

Early Season training, Alana and Ryan.

Nicole focused on the start of Salty Dog 2010.

Paul focused, but in his own way.

Long over due update-Part 1-Salty Dog

2010-06-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

Well it seems that I have not posted for a month now. Bad Jeff Bad.

Let's start with the Salty Dog. the "little" grass roots race had 400 people!!!and a competitive field. More and more people are enjoying this early season event to help tune skills and get a taste of summer.

Tons of Terrascapers were there along with the Goats, and Schmoos. Always good company. Craig Bartlett and a large Canmore following were there too.

As usual the start was fast for a 6 hour enduro. I paced beside/behind Brian Cooke, last years winner, to get a good position into the single track. It seemed that the longer road and pace made for a selection up front that would continue throughout the race. I was riding with Ryan Draper, Ron Ellis, and Leighton Podievin. Brian kept the pace high and was out of sight after 2 laps. It is interesting to note how close you can be to people in skill, and fitness. I have talked to Ron and he was feeling good and passed me. Later, I was feeling good and passed him back. After 6 hours it comes down to minutes.

I was riding in the top 3 and found myself in second going into lap 8 of 9. Right at the tight uphill switch back i glanced over my shoulder to find Leighton coming on strong. I had not seen him in a while and thought that he had faded. We rode together up the double track climb and discussed some things. He informed me we were away by a bit and that Brian was 10 minutes in front. We knew we might have time for a 10th lap but it would be tight. We made a gentlemens' agreement that we would settle things on lap 9. So it looked like a battle for second. I thought I was strong on the road but Leighton started to turn up the screws. He gapped me on the down hill and went hard on the second road climb. i did not see him in the feed and thought I was relegated to third. i kept up the pace though and I saw him again in the same spot he caught me.

Thoughts on Thoughts: Always race to the finish line.

It was 5 hours into the race and I did not think I had enough in the tank to race Leighton for second. We rode together on the road climb and I took my turn for the pull just as the hill got steeper and turned left. I attacked. i don't know how but i did. I didn't shift down, I didn't look back, I went face forward at high threshold until the top. I had put about 45 seconds into him before the downhill.

I kept saying in my head "smooth is fast, get to the road". I did. I kept the pace up again and did not look back until the top. i could not see him. I was 4 minutes from the finish and 45 seconds would be near impossible for Leighton to make up. Just don't crash!! i was a little tentative and gave up some time but rolled through the finish line in second.

I had enough food and water to go for another lap and we would have to throw down a comparable 10th lap by 90 seconds. Doable?? Probably, but as Leighton came through the finish line. I yelled back to him "Done?" and "Done!" was his reply.

At the awards i had been duped. Leighton had turned 40 and won his category. We were only competing for the overall. After almost 6 hours of riding we got to battle recover, and battle again. That is why I like racing.

Thought- Enjoy the race within the race. I was able to race and battle for second place but I have also had some of the most intense battles for 7th. Race day is the one day that everyone, without saying it, says " I am here to give it my best". It is not the placing but the effort that defines the day.

My Babies all Growd up

2010-05-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

Well last weekend was not about me. Jay and Alana had break throughs.

On Saturday, Alana went for a road ride with myself, Pat, and Edward Roddy. Alana stuck with the pushes on the uphills and grabbed wheels on the sustained attacks. She made it all the way to Big Hill springs road and Lochend!!!!Over 1 hour of riding. Things got a little crazy after that but she shouldered on into the wind by herself. We called her the 400 meter queen. By the time we turned around to go back for her she was only 400 meter behind. She even kept going once and beat us all to the Shell station.

Nice work Alana!

On Sunday we went for a MTB ride in Canmore. Jason not only did the Benchlands with Pat, Craig, Tima and I but continued on to Highline trail to get in a 3:30 ride. Jay was noticable stronger and faster after a winter of riding the rollers and watching the portion sizes. As The Kid has said " watch out this year, Jay will be dangerous".

Spot on Jay!

Back to Back

2010-04-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago I got to have a great ride with some great people. We met at Cadence and a gaggle of Deadgoats were there to enjoy the sunny weather. Tom, Tim, Pat, John along with Lisa, Alana and myself headed out to Bragg Creek.

The wind was strong out of the West, Wow was that rhetorical, but the temperature and skies were awesome. I spent a good amount of time riding with Tom. These group rides really allow you to get to know some other riders. We talked about family, riding weather, lots of stuff. The hills got attacked, the tempo pushed, but we still found time to chat it up. Good guys those goats.

We got to Bragg and had a quick coffee stop and socialized with the other roadies out for the day. Toma and Tim had to head back for other commitments but the rest of us decided to head to the end of Hwy 66 and back. With no cars past Elbow Falls it was like riding in the Tour. The scenery is awesome and stunning and we had more then enough time to look around as |Lisa had 3 flats due to some worn out tires. Note to all-training tires get pretty thin after a winter of indoor riding-change them up before you get stranded.

Sir Patrick Doyle was a gentlemen and offered tube after tube and just as it looked like Lisa may have to walk back Sir Patrick offered advice that only one of his extensive background could. Change the good front tire to the back as 60% of your weight is over the back wheel. This allowed Lisa to "ease" it back to Cinnamon Spoon for a treat. The boys carried on for a testosterone filled charge up and down the long hills.

Back to CS for a coffee and brownie before heading home.

The next day was the Prairie Roubaix hosted by Speed Theory. A 14km course with 3 km of gravel road thrown in to simulate the Spring Classics in Europe. All in all there were 9 Terrascapers there but only myself in the A race. The other riders had a great day as this was one of the first road races they had ever been in.

The A race started fast up the climb and I was positioned well all the way around until the gravel section. Then it just blew up. Riders got strung out and the pace was manic. I was alone starting lap 2 going up the hill when an old race acquaintance came up on me. i grabbed his wheel and by the top of the climb I had settled in and was able to take a turn pulling. We caught a few more stragglers and were soon an pack of 5.

This was one of the first races were i was riding with other people over 6 feet tall. i must say that it was nice to actually catch a draft behind the big men. I had to fight like mad on the down hills and pace properly on the ups. I was the only one on a cross bike with full cross tires. The good old 35cc, not quite so snappy. I hung tough and on the last gravel section before the finish an attack happened that I was able to cover and A BICI rider took me down to the paved part were he accelerated and I was 800m from the finish. I thought that would be it but I looked over my shoulder to see a Speed Theory rider coming on strong so had to bear down and go! I stood foe all of 30 meters and had to drop back into the seat. i got the cadence up and never looked back until after the finish. Man that hurts but good training.

I got the race fever and can't wait until the next one!!

The Water Valley 200!!!

2010-04-11T15:05:00.000-07:00

I have heard the CFC talk about this one since last year. The goal is to start at Cadence Cafe, ride to Water valley for a hearty lunch, then head into the wilderness for 60km of dirt road riding to pop out on the Waiporous access road then cruise home. Over 200 km on cross bikes.

Met at Cadence 8:30AM with Craig, Dallas, Ken, Thomas, Jon, Devin, and Myself. The wind was high and the temperature cool, we headed up the normal way to the NW. Nothing major to report except the dam wind.

There was nowhere to hide nothing like starting the day into a leg burning NW wind, heading north west?? Everyone took there turn up front and as we crossed Big Hill Springs road we got the wave from Lachlin driving his car. He had missed the start but was determined to catch up and have a ride. Lachlin caught on and helped pull the train forward into the unrelenting wind. The wind stole Dallas' bottle cap and jammed it into his wheel creating some brief but hilarious sounds. It also picked up Jon, at a slight 110lb??? and took him to the ditch for a great display of "WTF" and "how did he do that".

At the left hand turn to Water Valley Dallas finally admitted he was have some troubles.....with his wheel that is. The beast had been riding with a seized front bearing that barely made one rev!! We hid in the ditch while he tried to fix it to no avail and had to carry on with no front brake.

West into the wind again with the promise of a warm, calm place to eat a good lunch. 10 minutes in and Dallas had to pull the pin. The bearings where gone and his wheel was wobbling dangerously. We would have to shoulder on without him. ****update-Turns out Dallas turned around and his bearing completely fell apart, leaving him to start to walk home until a friend could come out and pick him up.

The pace ground out and the only safe place was Lachlin's left hip and it was occupied by Craig. had to be a bit of a road hog and grab Craig's left hip as the road climbed to the Saloon. Ken and Thomas worked together in a two man battle to the Saloon. As we arrived we could not see Jon? Where had he gone?? Was he just down in the dip. Craig and Lachlin turned back to see if the could help him with the final stretch.After watching them ride 4 of the 8 km back to the turn Ken, Thomas and I knew he had called it a day. Craig was worried that Jon had a flat and no tubes and kept on. ***update-Jon wass out of food and did not know how close he was to salvation. He turned around and made his way home.

The three of us entered the Water Valley Saloon, which was empty but had all the makings for a fantastic Saturday night of Jack and line dancing. We ordered up some lunch and enjoyed the ambiance and great service from the Bartender. Craig and Lachlin showed up, sans Jon. We hope he is good and not blown to a place where there is flying monkeys and a man behind the curtain.

Burger and fries and a hot chocolate to place in the groin for heat and all was good. The saloon was the turn around point and Ken and Thomas devised a plan to go south and hit up Horse Creek road for a great day out.***-update the boys hooked together a 100 miler, nice. Lachlin carried on with Craig and i for a short while on the gravel until turning around and picking up his car somewhere on the back track.

Now here in lies the adventure part of the ride. 76 km in, still heading away, no facilities, gravel roads. We left and decided to take a half notch off the pace that was happening with the group. Craig said he was not feeling all that great, something about his birthday, good wine bad cheese. As would prove the case he stowed it away and was kind enough to carry on with my initiation.

The roads were passable with some sections of soft wet gravel. Lots of deer and few cars as we took in the splendor that is Harold Creek road. All that way but worth it. The remoteness and views as we headed to the ever increasing elevation of the foothills have to be seen. Erik has talked about starting from the Saloon and I would be all over that. I had a flat that we fixed in good time but under no stress, ate a touch and carried on.

We didn't talk much at times, and others we were chatting like mad. 4pm and knowing that we would be return after dark still could not take away from the fact of what we were doing. We hit the forestry trunk road and caught some breaks on some packed gravel.

As we hit the pavement you would think I would get recharged but that sure didn't happen. The 100km between stops depleted my water supply and I could not digest any food. Big mistake taking in half a protein bar to find out my H2O stores were low. Craig reached deep and took his fair share of the pulling. I could pull through but not for long. I had no idea that Cochrane was that far!!!!

I had to pee but did not want to break Craig's tempo. Hold it and go. 3 weeks ago I had not felt that bad in the legs, now I had not felt this bad systemically in a long time. In fact since the XC8 where Craig and I did battle for 8 hours. Funny that!!

Oh did I mention the wind had changed direction. Of course it did.

We cruised to Starbonks, which I am told is the place to recharge in times like this. Here was the menu-an organic blueberry date square, apple fritter, tune melt panini, and Grande dark roast-7:30pm and that was just me.

We sat in the comfy chairs and started the feast. Knowing we had to climb the Cochrane hill and still return home. We both down another dark roast and headed out-8pm.

The summit was close at hand and the weather was windy yet stable.

Now was the time. The sun setting to our backs we choose the well travel south route hoping to avoid the avalanche of cars down the main chute. Gaining the first plateau at Glen Eagles, we proved that not letting the excitement of what we were doing get the better of us. Skirting the house sized houses, we looped onto the main track. Soon we could see it, the intersection of 1A. We steadied the nerves and pushed for the summit. It was ours. We only now had to cover the upper plateau to the down slope at Stoney trail.

After a day of struggle we both felt good and the pace was high and we covered the pavement well. We had to part ways at Stoney trail and I had nothing but down hill Bow Cycle and my car. Arrival time-9:29pm. 9.5 hours of riding and a 12 hour day, 210km, 60 km on gravel.

Thanks for the ride!!!!

A great weekend of riding

2010-04-11T07:26:00.001-07:00

April 3rd I had the pleasure to ride with Steve and Jerry. These guys have it going on. The ride their bikes and love it. They go for beers and eat delicious Jamie burgers and order Guiness. They can ride hard into the ever present wind and still have breathe to talk to you. A few attacks and I had to part ways and head home via hwy 22.

Next day was a ride with the Terrascpae boys Jason and The Kid. We brought along our Bike Trip bud Robb for his first ever road ride. The intermediate pace was very civil but Jason's aka is Flint. The boy likes to start things. Right off the start Jay attack the first hill. He has done a great job of getting down to fighting weight and it shows. I had trouble matching the pace and he threw a top of the hill attack that I could only watch.

Throughout the day The Kid and Flint kept things spicy. Robb did quite well and was able to gain a stop sign sprint victory with a well planned lead out.

All in all and great follow to get in 2 good days.

CFC Revisited

2010-04-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

The post is three weeks old but has to be done in order to get you up to date.

After relentless prodding by Alana to go riding with the Calgary Fast Cats, I found myself at Cadence Cafe for the Saturday DeadGoat ride. Craig, Gabor, Ed, Jerry, We started out and the plan was to head south of the city and hit up some of the coffee shops.

I grossly over estimated my ability at this time of year and seem to have overlooked the small, wee, little fact that I have not been doing any long ride/exercise for months. I felt my legs right off the first hill to 16. It didn't get better as I thought I would test things out up the COP hill. That was my one and only effort for the day.

Into a vicious head wind that would prove that it could shred my legs more. Out of no where cam Pat Dodge and 50+ increased the pace until we had to let him go. We stopped at Cinnamon spoons and then head south again. Beautiful rides full of leg pain and lack of endurance. Awesome. TO end this comeback day was the the road to Nepal. I had 4 row seats to the show as the boys cranked up the hills.

We rode within 4 mins of my house but i did ride all the way back to Bow Cycle to get my car. Day 1 of my goal to stick with these guys.

Penguin Stew

2010-03-20T18:29:00.001-07:00

ALana and I have been living with our friend The Kid (Ryan) for the last month. He is named the kid because he is the youngest member of our race club at the ripe age of 28!!!! I think Mical has him tied but she has been with the club so long she gets a by.

The kid has had lots of renters over time and has aquired many ?things? in his freezer. Some are obvious frozen corn and tropical fruit mix. Others not so much, as in the frozen bag of white meat. Alana thought it was a bag of perogies. Upon further inspection it was a very old, freezer burnt bag of chicken breast. Having a good laugh at this I called the item in question penguin. Anything that has been in the cold that long has got to be transformed. The only solution was to slow cook it.

It got a pass from the kid and I thought it was yummy. Alana sampled and gave it a good grade too. Proving the point that it is impossible to screw up something in the slow cooker.

Morning Life

2010-03-04T07:18:00.000-08:00

Well we are supposed to be here:

Drinking these:

But a passport expired and we had to delay for a week. Oh well, lot to do around the house and with no classes this week we are working hard.

I decided to go for a run this morning. I am trying to get up early and get to it. The Kid, who's house we are staying at, lives right by Fish Creek Park. Within 7 minutes I was running on dirt. Within 9 minutes I was flat on my ass on a slippery section of ice.

Beautiful morning, quiet woods, tranquillity and I turn the corner and literally almost run into:

There was a small group of them and they did not seem to afraid of me. I got within 8 feet of one before he/she decided to flip me the white tail and jet.

What a start to the day. Off I go to construct a wall.

Winter runs

2010-03-03T06:34:00.000-08:00

Alana, Jay and I went for a run at Nosehill last night. The sunset was stunning and we took several minutes to savour the orange and red hues as the sun dipped behind our majestic rockies. We took turns at the turns making decisions. jay decided to be a deer and lope off into the deep snow. Nothing like getting a snow cone in the shoe.

We are on spring break this week for spin classes and have been filling the days with cross training activities like swimming and running. So far so good. I have left all recording devices at home and just go out and do. Sunday found us on the Fish Creek bike path navigating snow and huge water/mud puddles. The pace was easy but the riding great. The Kid and I even got in a swim that day as well.

As much as it would be a blast to train like that I cannot deny the benefits of the spin classes. The consistency and progressive steps, i believe, are a major key to my success on the bike.

Soon there will be nothing but outdoor riding but until then some good hard indoor classes.

Winter Fun

2010-02-17T06:29:00.000-08:00

Well Can you tell I have been busy.

Here is an update on the goings on.

Had a great xmas in Ontario and my parents cottage. The first time the family has all been together there at xmas. Did some xc skiing and running.

Got back and tried to get in shape for the upcoming Lake Louise to Banff Loppet. A 70km "adventure ski". Jay, Dee, Alana and I went up the night before and stayed at the Deer Lodge which is quite nice and right across the road from the Chateau. Pretending we were twenty again we paid for a small room with two beds and snuck in the back door. Anythign to save a buck. Jay slept on the floor, bears dont' need beds, and it was early to bed.

Up early the next day for the race brief only to find that Alana and I were not actually registered for the race. As it is a small grass roots race they let us in anyways. Too bad we could have just goe for coffee and breaky.

I lost the gang when I wnet to the washroom and at the sound of the start gun here is where we were. Jay-parking lot waxing skis, Alana- running across parking lot to start line, Jeff-standing at start line with no poles or skis, Dee-running like made to get Jeff his skis.

I run a burly setup of wide track skis with fish scales. Yep, no maintanence in years. Needless to say on the first leg which is 22km downhill-ish I was fighting not to be DFL. Alana and Ramona passed me early and I tired hard to hold off Jay but away he went.

Left-Right-Left-Right-Left-Right with only 78 people in the race I spent a lot of time alone to enjoy the sights. Beautiful route although it was in the ditch of the 1A at times.

Wander here, wander there finally got to the Sunshine overpass and knew where I was. Down along the river and done!!!!!

Great prizes at the buffett and a good feel. Would I do it again? I don't know maybe with proper skis and some more training.

Weights and Cycling

2009-12-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

I have started up with my Wednesday night lifting again.

The benefits I gained last year were unquestionable. I did not get whole body fatigue on the bike. I could ride 3-8 hours and still feel relatively good. Before I would often get very a very tired and sore lower back, neck, and my triceps would kill on some long downhills.

Nothing fancy yet, just gettin the body used to holding and liting. I Will be putting in squats which will make Thrusday night interesting. My theory is that with the weights being heavier than what I can push on the pedals when I go back to the bike threshold riding will feel easier in the legs. I responded well last year to some serious power training.

I was worried at first about carrying around a few more kilos on mass but after last yrear I will gladly weigh more to have the endurance and power in my whole body.

I'll let you know how it goes when I really get into in the new year.

CFC part Duhhh

2009-12-08T07:17:00.000-08:00

What was I thinking?? I mean really. Who would accept an invitation to go ride last Saturday? It was minus 10 going to minus 14, with howling winds that woudl take it down to minus 25.

Here is what I thought I would look like:

And here is how much fun I thought it would be:

I was standing in my living room, which was a nice 19 degrees, staring out the window thinking okay I can just ride to Cadence cafe and see what happens. Erik said the previous night that we might just go for breakfast. Why does everything sound good when you have one of these in front of you:

I showed. There was no one there. I had a coffee. I waited. I called. They showed. We were going. Shit!!! Ah, really I wasn't that dejected. I was looking forward to this. After last weekends ride to Fish creek with the CFC I knew they could be reseasoned with and that no one was trying to get killed.

We left Cadence and decided to head West to sstart. Straight into the wind. Theory= if wi go into hte wind and get tired we turn around and get pushed home. Just three of us this week. Erik, Craig, and Me. All on SS, the deep snow bike of choice.

Here are the stats
top speed=32 kph
time=3:49:00
distance=41.26 km
elevation=1069m
Ave speed=11.6 kph

11.6 kph??? It was all torque and keeping hte bike upright. When things were going well 18kph. Until I rubbed the side of a tire track and lost balance fought to recover and started at 3 kph again.

We really didn't go to far. Bear's Paw dam. Edworthy hill. Cadence for a good lunch.

It was just plan fun on a bike. I think we could have gone hiking and had just as much fun.

Lesson learned. Go on try it, the worst that could happen is you could have a great breakfast with friends.

Riding with the Calgary Fast Cats (CFC)

2009-12-03T14:41:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I finally accepted an invitation to go out with the Elite/Cat 1,2 riders here in Calgary.

Craig Stappler usually is the guy organising the rides and is one of my main competitors. He has been sending me the emails since last spring but this was the first one. Why? I am sure that we could get into a deep well of pychology on this one but probably because I was a little apprehensive (read-scared). These are the guys that I trade battles with all summer. But if I am to take the next step then I need to ride with these guys. I need to be pushed over and over again.

Shawn-cranked past me at XC8 listening to Pantera in the last 10 minute to bumpme to 3rd.
Brain-rode with him and his partner in TransRockies and Mical and I tried to beat them everyday.
Chris-Canadian Master A TT champ and top provincial cx racer
Gabor-the SS animal who I tried to drop in the Bow 80 but couldn't unitl Jumping Pound.

Missing were Dallas, Keith, Devin, and Erik. Some serious horse power in all these guys.

It is like going for boxing practice with Mike Tyson and Evander Hollifield. Who in their right mind thinks that is a good idea?

I am trying to work on all the things that are my limiters. Riding above myself is one of them. Riding with the CFC should do it.

We met at Cadence cafe at 10 had a bite to eat then headed out. Where? I think only Shawn and Craig knew but we were quite happy to follow. Some were on cx bikes adn Gabor, craig, and myself were ridin the SS. The roads were slick, the temp was great, the company was awesome. It was a pleasure to be riding with these guys and not racing. I got to know more about each of them. Races they plan on doing, gear they like/dis-like, secret trials they know about. We rode the long way round to Fish Creek. The trials were excellent and fun. Lots of new stuff that was challenging. Too bad no one saw me catch my bar end into a fence, promptly sending me to the ground landing on the only tree knub in the area.

At times the pace was high. We all tried to climb steep hills. I knew that this was my day to push myself. I tried all the hills others did, sometimes successful, sometimes not. As the day worn on I actually started to feel better. Must have been the chewy pb and cocoa bar from the cafe. Our numbers slowly declined as the time past. Chris was selling his house, Gabor has kids, Shawn said something about more coffee. In the end at 4 hours Brian, Craig and Myself headed to Nosehill. By the time we got there the sun was going down and we all decided that was that.

So what did learn in my 75km SS adventure? I can ride with the CFC. I will get better riding with the CFC. It can be fun to do the 18a St hill 3:30 hours into the ride at redline.

Mostly, we all want to ride, make it fun, and have a good coffee after. Even the CFC.

Beans and Barley Race

2009-11-23T11:00:00.000-08:00

I will try to cathc up the the ongoings of life but here is a story about our race teams cyclocross race held late Oct.

Our theme is beans and barley, beer and chili. We are one of the only races to have a liqour license and have a inter team chili cookoff. This was our 4th year and we had another great event. We try to make it fun and have new people try the race. We had a citizens category so anyone could race even on a mountain bike. If you have every thought of riding a CX event put this one in the calendar for next year.

Ryan and Chris Battling for the race and the title.

Tim showing off the pipes and his best skid.

Mical dressed in her skeleton suit kicking some boney butt.

Your host with the most. Paul and I dressed for success and doing a dam fine job of annoucing all four races. Yes, I even raced in the suit with a remote mic in the expert and open events. Couldn't really hear me over the gasping for breath.

One more arrow for the quiver!!

2009-10-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

It was a hard fought negotiation but I now own a Rocky Mountain Solo CX. It is the entry level bike (good compromise on my part) and comes with groovy red bar tape.

After watching my friends at a Tuesday night cross race I had to have one. Everyone was so excited to be there and was having so much painful fun. Thanks to Keith for putting the order n quickly and even getting his wife Leslie to deliver it to my door. This was Friday Oct. 16, there was a race the next day but I had to much work to wrap up, the bike stayed in the box crying to be let out.

Saturday night I started putting it together. All went well except the front brake. Why would anyone build a 90 degree angle into a brake cable?? After visiting Lonn for some CX insight I had not put on the brake guide and did so Sunday morning. Just in time for my 1 pm start, in Open Men no less. Reid Cummings gave me a quick rehash on how to shoulder the bike, Andy Holmwood couldn't stand my long brake wire and proceeded to take me back to his car to fix it, 10 minutes before the start of the race.

How did it go you may ask??? Well.....too much fun! The Kid and my brother came just to watch a guy who has done almost nothing for a month go full tilt for an hour. My full tilt was only about half tilt and there was some residual wine in the system. I found myself in DFL. I fought up to 2DFL and held that spot. My goal was now not to get lapped. That didn't happen. Ryan Hopping came up on me near the end of lap 9 with 2 to go and was going to "kindly" let me stay in front for another lap. That didn't happen either. After trying to hold off the King of Cross I slowed just before the start of the up hill and got out of his way.

What happened in the interim:

1/found out that I can actually ride a CX bike

2/ Still have no idea how to run with one

3/ Can get on and off CX bike fast, used to wiping out on mtb

4/ battled with Keith Baley, in the sand, sprinting uphill, yelling yahoo as loud as we could

Ii had so much fun I went to the Tuesday night race and smiled the whole time. Things felt better and I could feel a little "snap" in the legs.

It's good to ride for fun again.

Oh ya, indoor cycling classes start this week.

Why I like Bikes!!!! In Pics

2009-10-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

Did she recover???

Always smiling, until grumpy!

Hanging with the Dawgs!

Great Friends!

SWEEEEEETTTTT! Good to know all that hard work was worth it!!

One off the life check list!!

Why I like Bikes!!!! In Pics

2009-10-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

Nic and Dee at The 2009 BCBR. ( Cute girls on bikes)

2009 Cape Crew piled into the van. (going international with friends)

Lisa and Alana at the 2008 BCBR (sweet taste of completion)

The kid and I rolling to the bar after Holly and Colin's wedding! Yes, we are doubling!

No DD here!

With the boys in flagstaff!
Pure Fun!!

Good Beers!

Why I road trip.

XC8-Bow80, Ying and Yang

2009-09-25T06:37:00.001-07:00

I apoligise that I have no pictures of these two races as everyone was racing. I am sure you will agree that pics make it way more fun. I'll try to track some down.

So how do theses races compare to each other./ This year that would be like comparing the complex taste of a good wine and an anvil. What are you talking about?

XC8-a great little race in Jumping Pound Provincial Prak, Sask. Yes, Sask. the course takes you up their ski hill and then winds its way all around a river valley that ends at a dammed lake. The course is tight with some amazing single track. The hills are punchy and 2 or 3 are exposed.

The weather this year-HOT, DAM HOT! 34 degrees someone said. For 8 hours???? I knew it was going to be a race of survival so tried to get on the nutrition game early. Didn't work out quite that well as I also didn't want to lose sight of my main competitor Craig Stappler. He has a fast start I wanted to keep him in sight. He won the hill climb and got a free ride later in the race to the top of the hill. Lucky bum.

4 hours in it was Craig and I riding together out front. It remained that way for the whole race. With Pat Humeney taking 3rd on a single speed!! Lots of tactics came into play. I tried to stay out of sight and make my stops fast. The heat was getting to me mid race and I had to take in extra calories and water. I started to feel better in the last laps and went for it on the last one as I was past last year in the last lap.

Lots of people didn't finish the race due to the heat or modified their laps taking rests and sat in the shade for a bit. SMART. It was not the day to push beyond. Too hot and to much of a change from our otherwise cool summer.

Bow 80-the worst 7 hours of weather in Sept.

Alana and I camped out the night before to save the drive and have our camper at the finish line. It works out great and this is the second year we have done it.

I woke at 5:50 to the sound of rain on the roof. We knew it was coming but it didn't call for that bad of a day. It continued to rain until the start and well into the race. Some people drove out to the start saw it was rainging and turned right around and drove home. There were a lot of DNS. The race started well but it was drizzling. Most people were okay until being exposed to the SNOW on top of Jumping Pound Ridge. Toes and fingers took the worst of it and went numb. Mine were numb since the start but that is typical for me. If you have seen how long my arms are my fingers are a long way from my heart. It was snowing, sideways. The temperature down on the road was 1 degree. It was down right nasty. Kudos to anyone who even started.

Last year I got a flat on Cox hill that cost me lots of positions so I went tubeless this year to not have that happen again. Guess what?? It did anyway. Have you ever tried changing a tire in the mud and snow and not being able to feel your fingers? Difficult. I got the tired repaired and it lasted until the top of Cox when it went again. Jon Nutbrown threw me another tube and many competitors asked if I was good. I got a tube in and started down it lasted 7:45 by my GPS and it was done. There was something wrong with my wheel that was causing the flats. I was doing good at the time of the first flat. My core was warm, I was gaining positions, the hardest climbs were over, and the Tom Snow section is a strenght for me. Alas, it was not to be. I was now cold and had a broken wheel.

I did not finish, DNF, my first race, ever, in my whole life.

I have ridden through a lot of things but it just wasn't going to happen. This race meant a lot too. I had wanted to do well in it this year with all the flats last year. I had pre-ridden many of the sections over the summer and had even done the whole loop with the "fast guys" weeks ago. I had to beat Craig or place right behind him to win the Enduro Series. He went on to get 4th and take the series. Great Job Dude!

They called the race when they realised that things were on the line of getting out of control. People were stopped at the bottomeof Cox Hill and directed to the awaiting buses to be taken back. A back up plan that has not been used in 10 years. Thanks for thinking of it that long ago Bow.

Alana was a rockstar. In typical faashion she just kept going and going. She made the cut off grabbed a garbage bag to wear for warmth and was the only female finisher. She is the "Queen of Kananaskis" and now has 3 belt buckles. One is will be a huge glittery gold one. Well done!!!!!!

Now the season is done. I have a home reno to wrap up and have enjoyed the lack of pressure this week. Spin class starts up in a month and I plan on doing lazy rides and suppport for all the cross racers. You know take your jacket, wash your bike, drink your beer.

I dont' know what to do for the next bit but I am sure I will find something to do.

TransRockies 2009

2009-08-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

Mical and Jeff Visit the TransRockies

Day minus 1
Rest Well!! didn't and felt it. I should know better than that. Gosh!!!!

Day Zero

Mical and her parents, Brenda and Dave, picked me up Saturday morning for our ride out to Panorama. The minivan was loaded down. Great job of packing Dave! We got there with lots of time and could watch the registration line from our hotel room. I tired to catch up on rest but was busy laughing with my crazy partner.

The registration was pretty slick. Only took 20 minutes or so. Far better than the BCBR 3 hours!!!! but not as fast as the blazing Cape Epic 5 minutes.

Mical-Hey let's go for a small ride to move the legs

Jeff-sounds good

Mical-you know I have not gone on a ride in 2 months without being rained on

Jeff-look at the sky we will be fine

20 minutes later

Jeff-F*&# it's cold when you get rained on (trust me lots of foreshadowing here)

Mical-it's okay I am used to it

Dining tips at Pano-go to the buffet. It was $30 but the restaurant we went was slow, expensive and poor with a capital P!

Day 1

After doing well in the BCBR Mical and I knew we should start near the front and get good positioning. It was supposed to be a "neutral start" but there ain't nothing neutral about Day 1 and the Rocky boys. After the first uphill there was a a spilt and Mical and I were in the lead group. I am glad we had 7 days of fast start practice for this.

recipe for Day 1:

-start with 1 hour uphill

-add moderate single track with great views

-mix in scree slope down hill-best accomplished by running down

-lots of yahooing and yipping for effect

-bake it along gravel road with healthy sprinkle of sharp rocks

-settle in for 10 minutes of tire repairs

-Crank to finish

Your end results should be big smiles, good challenge and your first ever stage victory!!!! Ewwww I can't wait to see what colour jersey we get.

Baby Blue-Very nice!!!

Day 2-

What a great breakfast. A hot line- pancakes, eggs, bacon and a cold line- oatmeal, granola, and yogurt. Hello all other races all we want is good food and sleep, a kick ass course is good too.

Before the start of Day 2 with our friends the Sergio and Ettori, the Italians. Pretty excited to be wearing a leaders jersey and in the front row.

Day 2 took us from K2 Ranch to Nipika. It had the most climbing of the race, 2835m and was only 72.2 km long. 3 big climbs in the day and the infamous hike a bike. Mical and I rocked the dh and had Jon Firth for company for the first 1/2 of the race. The hike a bike was not all that bad and the newly cut French Connection DH was a blast. Before heading down Bear Creek we were in a narrow valley and you could tell you were way back in the back country.

The DH was very technical and crazy in spots. Mical chicked 3 teams on the way down and only one caught us on the road into Nipika. There was one deep bog that claimed more than one cyclist near the end. I stepped into it and sank to mid thigh!

As it was really wet and there was a fair share of hiking i developed chafe high on my butt. At the finish line all I could think about was getting out of my chamois. I had my first real interview and had to stand very still so as not to grimace on film. Once I got my towel I was good and proceeded to change my seat, a fancy white one-thanks Dave.

Day 3

Nipika Time Trial- 44 km 11oo m vertical

It rained in the morning, cleared for a bit, then RAINED for our start and most of the rest our race. The course was slick and slow. We started good and fast but had to reel it back in when we realised how much energy we were putting out and the risk of injury or mechanical. The course was good and had neat challenges, like the almost vertical, slick, hike a bike. Crazy Larry set up his balloon alley and the views were incredible. We extended our lead and now had 3 leaders jerseys.

Day 4

107 km long and 1980m vertical

We had another good start and were riding with the leading men for some time. We dangled for a bit then were on our own. We had a great pace going and were 4th overall at the top of the first climb. Down to the road were we picked up Peter the Englishman and were trying to set a good tempo. It was 40 km to the finish on road and help appeared to be on the way. Brain and Ryan from Bow were close behind us and trying to close the gap. Now for the famous Schmoo race motto " It's not wether you win our lose, it if you beat your friends". I saw them coming but made them work to catch us. When they finally did we tried to organise a pace line but the rain, puddles, and tire ruts made it too hard to keep it together. There were 8 of us but after teh first sustained climb it was back to Mical, myself and Peter. We knew we were riding good when we saw the 2nd place team, the Portuguese. I stepped up the pace and helped Mical over the top of the hills to maintain our momentum. The course ended with a drag race down the last 2km and if it wasn't for the corner into the finish Mical and I probably would have got 3rd overall on the day. As it was we beat most of the support there and ate big at the food table.

Cold, Wet, and Hungry. Mical with Brain, Dax and Thane ( our Colorado buddies)

Day 5

Whiteswan to Elkford

Mical's rain dance continues in earnest. WTF! As i was not cold enuf yesterday riding the road. I started in 2 tops arm warmers and knee warmers. Still cold all day.

We had another good start but broke a chain early into the climb. Mical's Dura-race chain was really hard to break and was almost the teams first "conflict". I was trying to break the chain without damaging it when the the Belgians, Xavier and Mieke, came up and passed us.

Mical-just break the chain

Jeff- I'm trying

Mical- come on

Jeff gives blank look and more zest=chain breaks.

A quick link on and we were back riding. We made a good effort to catch them and sit on their wheels for a minute. the plans was to stay there until the down hill but Mical gave me "the Lance look" and attacked. I followed and assisted around the next switch back. Mical's motto is out of sight out of mind. We settled in and put some good time into them. Unfortunately, the middle section was so flat, boring and lonely that we saw the Belgians at add 3 before the last big climb. It spurred us on to the top and there were lots of very steep hiking sections that worked in our favour. The steepest was 28.7%. We made 14 minutes in 90 minutes of racing. Coming into Elkford was so cold and I was shivering on the bike. We crossed the finish line and I made straight for the hot showers a hair away from being hypothermic.

What A Good Support Team Does-

Food at finish

Washes bikes

Keeps things light

What an Exceptional Support Team Does-

As above

Washes clothes

Wrenches bikes

Dries clothes in car

Allows you to nap in their nice dry tent.

Day 6

Elkford to Crownest Pass

101km, 2647 m Vertical

Check out the profile and pay attention to the last 3 "bumps"

http://www.transrockies.com/trc/pdfs/ProfileArtS6.pdf

How to describe this day???? The one thought that got me thru the day was "they must be shortening the day cause this is just nasty". They didn't but by the time I figured this out I was too close to stop and Mical was all jazzed and positive about the last section.

Mical and I saw more then one team have troubles. The days are long and hard and with no

Here is the start:

The day was long, cold, and hard!! That is about it. It was raining so hard at one time I could not see. I just kept riding on the grey parts and avoided the green parts. Mical could barely see me and I was right in front of her. The down pour was so much greater than the mud coming up that I was riding a clean bike. Merino wool undershirt, jersey, vest, plastic rain jacket, leggings=still cold.

Mical's bike at aid staton #3-

Us at the Finish

I believe it is not the problem but how a someone handles it that shows their true colours. The rec center's hot water tank was too small for the race=they contacted the local poola nd provided a shuttle to take racers back and forth. The weather was the worst in the races history=they bought loads of blankets to have at the finish to keept he racers warm. They made sure there was extra to eat and allowed people to sleep on the floor of the rec center. Nice work TR!!

Start of the last day

Crownest to Fernie.

Wet but no rain!!!!!!!!

We had a slow start and I kept getting a slow leak. We would send Mical up the trial and I would deal withe the tire and then cathc back on. Thanks to Jonny the englishman for his CO2!! We turned at one time and saw both Belgian teams right behind us. We gave it some gas and lucked into some Karma. I had pulled a couple of pace lines over the race and Mical's mom had gave out lots of snacks. We hit the road and oh look there are our Italian friends taking a "long drink of water". We catch up and set a furious pace down the road to the long climb of the day. We knew it we could hold them off until the top we would go 7 for 7 for stage wins. Mical said she was tired, Mical said she was not feeling "snappy". hmmm we passed 2 men's teams on the climb and stayed with our Italian friends. Could it be that we were crankin??????? Yep I think so. It doesn't get easier, you just get faster. Nice work Partner!

We got to the final climb of the day and Corey Wallace rode with us for a bit. He won the TR3 but continued on doing media coverage for a cycling website. It was nice to have his company and the climbe went fast. Near the top Craig Stappler and Ketih Bayley had set up shop and were cheering like mad. Jay and Dee had postioned themselves rith at the top of the climb and I could hear the calll of Leroy Jenkins.

Swift, smooth, satisfying single track all the way to down town.

And that was that. Our first Stage race victory. We had ridden number one for 7 days, fought the elements, competed high in the overall and realised victory.

When the dust settled we were first, the Belgian team of Xavier and Meike were second, and Alena and Dean Irvine held on for a hard fought battle for 3rd.

I took a week off the bike and went to the Heise cottage. I recovered as best I could and today I feel like gettin gback on the bike. The XC8 and the Bow 80 are left. i am not super excited jsut yet but the racers amnesia is kicking in and the emails are flying so soon I will be chomping at the bit to race again.

Hi Ho to the TR we Go!!

2009-08-08T07:18:00.001-07:00

My Mom at the start of the last TransRockies I was in with Evan, 2005.

I am getting picked up today by Mical and her parents Dave and Brenda for our trip to the TR. Dave and Brenda did support for Mical last year and are kind enuf to do it again. They are veterans of mtb races so they know what they are doing. I have been lucky to have such great support:

Dave and B from Banff (over 5 times)

My Mom and Dad

My brother and friend Martin

My wife Alana

Jay

Sherri

Little Mikey

Team Terrascape

If you have ever been to an event of any kind they always acknowledge the support and volunteers so thanks to all my support over the years.

I am getting pretty good at packing for a stage race now. It does help when your good friend will be there as a mechanic, your partners parents ride and bake, and your partner is fully self sufficient. Here is the food I will be taking:

We are on the meal plan too so hopefully the food is better than the BCBR. I brought PBJ stuff and porridge just in case though.

It has been a tough week. Peaking is always hard on you mentally. i don't think I get enough endorphins and I start to go a little off. I set 4 new personal bests since last week in all the different energy systems and times. From a 2 hour push to a 2 min push I have bettered myself. Why do I feel so down and crappy???

One thought is the stress of wrapping up life before you go. There are always a million little things to do and you feel the pressure of getting them done. Having just finished the BCBR a month ago there has not really been enough time to get on the proactive side of life.

Combined with the focus ( as mentioned in a previous post) you put a lot of things on hold to go away for a week.

So now that I have been thru this 3 times in one year I can recognise the signs and know the cycle. Even as I sit here and write this I am in a better mood, really looking forword to riding my bike with Mical again.

My race schedule is pretty light for a bit and I will be riding for fun. After a rest period at the Manitoba lake side of course.

Wakey wakey body, eggs and bakey

2009-07-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

It is about time I got back to it. I have been working on speed which is short intervals with lots of rest. Last weekend was taking that and putting it into a long ride.

We did the Calgary 70.3 road portion on Saturday. It is beautiful. There are some good hills but it was laid out to avoid most of the killer foothills around Calgary. We watched the Mt Vonteux stage at Jay and Dee's house in the morining then jumped in the truck to head to the Ghost River dam. Shanye is the only one doing the 70.3 but Lisa, Alana, Craig, Myself, and Alana's Sister Barb were keen to try it out. Barb is visiting from France and quite a good triathlete. It was hot and every now and then the occasional show down would happen.

Here is the course:

Course-http://www.mapmytri.com/ride/canada/ab/calgary/741668699102

The legs didn't feel good but it is funny how they will still respond when needed. I recorded a new max heart rate after Craig, Shayne and I did a 3 man break and then sprinted for the last hill. 176bpm-never thought it was possible. All the rest and speed work are allowing me to reach new goals.

Sunday was family day with the in-laws in from France so the workout was done early. Baldy then Prairie View/Chief Hector all at high tempo and/or race pace. It hurt but felt good to be back pushing for some duration. I think it will help wake up the body and, more importantly, get the mind ready for the suffering of another 7 day race.

Back at it this week and we will see how things roll Tuesday.

Mical and Jeff take on the TR

2009-07-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Yep, we are throwing our helmets into the TransRockies Ring.

I have convinced Mical to joining me for another 7 day stage race. We had been talking about doing it next year but we feel this is the year as all things are lining up for us.

We agree the goals will be the same and it will be more great training.

I am excited and leery at the same time. This will be my third stage race this year and it takes a lot out of you. Physically I have to keep up with all the training. Lucky for me I have a die hard training team. Mentally I have to stay focused on the race and work my life around it. At times I find the latter harder to do then the first. A million thoughts go thru my head each day:

-am I hydrated
-am I rested
-when will I work out
-will I be strong enough
-how tired will I feel
-how will I fit work in
-what if I have this cider

It starts to wear on you after a while. I know that I have a base. My goodness, if I don't believe that then I am really missing something. I will be working on speed over the next months to try to challenge some of my competitors. Lots of guys have speed and a good start I will try to get one as well. It can really set you up for a race or allow you to put some pressure on.

It seems a bit counter intuitive to train speed for a stage race but I don't think there is a doubt that I can ride my bike for endurance.

I know that I will have to rest well for the TR as it will be longer in the saddle the BCBR, but not the Cape. The one thing that I am super giddy about is riding another 7 days with Mical. She is such a great partner and friend to have on the trail. I know we will have some fun and I will be holding on for dear life on the fast descents.

My reward after this race?? 5 days at the cottage in Manitoba!!!! No bike, just a lounge chair and my nieces and nephew, and in-laws.

My neice Raelyn and I at the cottage.

Training Partners

2009-07-20T07:30:00.000-07:00

After my week off boy did it hurt to get back on the bike and train again. It started Tuesday night at Edworthy hill with my team. We did 6 x 2 min all out efforts. Man was I in trouble. We made it to 3 before someone asked how many we were doing. I could have easily said 4 but as the Coach I had to get in the workout.

That is the best thing about a team or training partners. Once you say it you have to do it. 6 is was. Not a pretty sight to see a bunch of people gasping and wheezing "sprinting" for the orange gate of Hell/Heaven. I don't know which one to call it because it is hell to get to but heavenly because you get to stop at it. We do a staggered start on the hill so that we are all close to each other at the top. It makes for some interest "sprint" finishes.

I fins I push myself when I workout with others. This is not a new thing for anyone I am sure. It has actually been a limiter for me. I like working out on my own and with my schedule find it easier to just go when I can/want. Working out with others brings out the competitor in me and I will push beyond what I think I am capable. I normally push thru these boundaries in races but it is far more beneficial to be doing it in workouts as i get in so many tries in a week. This is new to me this year. I have sat in my basement and done Ed and Cochrane hill by myself for years. This year is a true effort to get out and hammer. Doing hills with Mical, my BCBR partner, early in the year showed that I could go beyond.

So thanks to everyone who comes out and jams with me. I appreciate it.

A week of Hedonism

2009-07-13T16:03:00.000-07:00

I am all about sacrifice and reward. Gearing up for a March stage race then getting back and doing the same for a June stage race required a lot of focus and commitment. One of the things that kept me on track was the idea that I would take a week off after BCBR and do NOTHING.

Well that is what I did. I taught core on Monday and practiced team time trial skills with Jay and Alana on Tuesday. That was it. I was working hard on the reno but stopped for tea and a nap some days.

We went to our friends Holly and Colin's wedding on Saturday and drank a little and stayed up long enough to have last call at the Drake in Canmore. I rode the single speed on the Highline trail on Sunday with Alana, Ryan, Fazian, and Matt. Things felt great, but I should think so after that much time off and all the calories I consumed, lots of ice cream.

There was the reward. I am glad I did it. I feel good and the energy is back. The heart rate responds the was it should and I want to ride my bike again. I will be trying to get my training in by going to the crits and riding the single speed. It is time ot have some fun with my fitness level and focus back in for Provincials at the end of August. But for now....Lets's ride for fun.

Riding the BC Bike Race

2009-07-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

What could be better than going on a week long trip where all you have to do is ride your bike from pint A to point B, then chill, eat lots, and sleep? Answer: doing it twice in one year.

Doing the Cape with Greg was awesome and now I was going to ride single track with Mical. Oh the joys of life.

Mical and I have never really rode together. Once in Fernie 3 years ago and some road rides, then her killer hill sets at Edworthy, but no real MTB rides. She has a very busy schedule once racing starts and is hardly in town. We decided to go out and do Baldy and Chief Hector and get to see how we ride together in prep for the BCBR.

It was raining and we had just done the Canada Cup in Canmore the day before. We had run near exact times for the 3 lap race and knew that we were aerobically the same, but what of all the subtle little things in one's personality that could come out in a 7 day event. Well, we knew we would be okay after the first uphill and downhill. On the way up were riding the same and Mical had no problem stopping for me so I could have my M&Ms. She galdy poached all the good colours and was off up the hill again. We stopped at the top of Baldy, enjoyed the low lying clouds, the moist air, and the fact there was no one else around. Mical lead the way down and we soon discovered that I would be trying hard to hold her wheel for a week. We were both yahooing and weeeing all the way down the trail. We stopped to see if a couple of riders we came upon were okay and they were laughing at us because they could hear our exclamations of joy all the way down the mountain. Yep, for this single track odyssey we were going on Fun was number 1.

Our goals were to have fun, ride hard, podium and the dream goal was to win.

Day 1 start chute discussing strategy or ice cream, I can't remember.

Day 1-North Shore

Talk about being nervous. I am riding with a National athlete against other National athletes and Olympians. We knew we had to have a good start and hammer hard until the first choke point just so we would not be backed up.

Here is my heart rate profile, speed and altitude for the first 12 minutes of the race. My max heart rate is 171 bpm and I have not seen my HR in the mid 160s all year. Yep, it was an average of 167 bpm and the pace was 20 kph uphill!!. You can see the choke point where we had a 20 second break then a short down before heading up Old Buck.

North Shore riding is unbelievable. I thought Mical and I would be okay as we are both good descenders. There is a large difference between riding the north shore and racing it. I ended up running most of it because it was faster then trying to pick my way down. I had the leg out, stomach on seat, ass way back style and still couldn't pull it together.

We had a great day and ended up 2nd.

YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeOPu2he8Uo it is 8 minutes long but you get the idea. Whoever took the video is a great rider.

Day 2-Naniamo to Parksville.

Started riding the "Abyss" which was awesome. lots of rock step ups and descents to start but then it turned a little soft and loamy. It was hard to ride as you couldn't see the roots so every bump was reactionary and slowly tired out your arms and back. Didn't think I would really look forward to the road but when we came out we both sighed with relief. We picked up a good pace line with DeadGoats Devin and Eric and hammered out some good turns at the front. The boys in the pace line were starting to fade but didn't want to get "chicked" ( my new favorite saying as told to me my Leah Davidson) as Mical was doing her share at the front and we kept the pace high. Into Parkville for a night on the beach.

Now this may sound pleasant but it was one of the detriments for us the next day. The dinner was not exceptional and had little in the way of carbs. The wind was so strong that the tent tried to eat both of us. It blow the sides in and covered my head and Micals feet. The next morning's breakfast, Day 3, was eggs, sausage, ham and greasy has browns. Not the best racers food.

Day 3-Cumberland

After the lumberjacks breakfast we took the buses to Cumberland for some wicked riding. Starting in town we headed for the dump road and the Forbidden Plateau. We were riding strong but got stuck behind a Masters riders that slowed us down in the single track. We popped out on the road with the Luna Chicks, Rocky MT ladies, the leading Master team, and us. We drove a mean pace line and I was able to head up front and tow the line for a while. Probably one of the coolest things ever!!!!!!! We took the road to the big climb of the day which was 45 minutes long. The down hill was excellent but we still had to make it back to the trail network behind Cumberlnad and the infamous Space Nugget run. I knew we were close and kept encouraging Mical that it would be worth it. We bared down and got the climbs done.

Beware of the Muntain Reggan- Micals friend ended up way out on the course, was hidden by some bushes and as we passed yelled "GO Mical!" No big deal except I never saw him and by the time he yelled Mical was passed and I was right beside him. I nearly filled my chamois I was so startled.

Day 4-Cumberland to Seschelt

The dreaded 4:30am wake up call. This starts our 6.5 hour logistical trek to the start line. It is not bad but it does knock you down a notch on the day and it showed. We tried to sleep on the ferry and buses but it was too brief and not solid. There was a lot of power lines today and it felt very much like a Trans Rockies day. Our team had a moment and we needed to re-group and re-evaluate. We had been going hard for 4 days and were fading ever so slightly. We were in third and could not chase back on. Goal number one: have fun, so we reeled it in for a few minutes, ate, drank, talked and made it to Aid 2. We could just see 2nd place and knew that we were not doing that bad despite the challenges. The day did not get better but it did not get worse. Well, except at the end we were finally having some fun, zooming down hill jumping logs even the ones that were there to stop us and turn us. We went off track, lost 2-3 minutes and had the 3rd place team pass us while we were lost to get 4th on the day. That hurt a little and we quietly went about our recovery rituals.

Day 5 Seschelt to Langdale

We knew this was going to be a fun day and we had a 31 minute lead on 3rd place. We decided to get a good start then settle in to a good pace and loose strategic time to avoid a blow up. It was a long technical day both up and down and the pace was great.

I did start to get a little poopy this day as it became quite apparent that Mical was the better descender. I could keep up but had to keep pedaling back on, using my engine to gain the speed. Watching Mical descent has made me better as well. She is very smooth, chooses good lines, and rarely makes mistakes. By the time we made it to the end of the day it was almost all down hill, fast flowy, and fun. Deadgoats Pat and Geoff were on our tail and by the time we hit the road they lit it up and beat us to the finish by seconds. It is a lot of fun racing people you know.

We lost 2 minutes to the Cannondale-Monavie team of Sue Butler and Brian Alders but we were good with that and still held a 31 minute lead on them.

Third on the Day but still Second overall!!!!

Day 6 Squamish

The riding was incredible!!! We used the same strategies as Day 5 and went for the start and settled into our on pace. It is amazing how tired you get riding nothing but single track.

High lights:
- robs corners-over 50 left, right berms
-Psuedo Tsuga-great drops and corners
-Power House Plunge-after 5 days of technical riding it was over before we knew it
-watching Ryan Leach do his thing

We gave up 2 more minutes to Cannondale-Monavie but that was part of the plan. It was hotter and we expected to catch them on the down hills but they were riding well and we only saw them in the beginning of the day.

Day 7-Whistler

I was so nervous sitting in the start chute. I had to battle the voice in my head that was worried about wiping out, mechanicals, getting lost, anything to do with losing our 29 minutes lead over third. We were over an hour out of first so that didn't look good but Mical always the positive one kept saying " you never know", maybe a stage win? Nope but we should have got an award for effort.
The start was straight up the ski hill and then the cat track. It was not the best course off the start as they had us climb the cat track to descend the cat track. We finally got in the single track and were right behind 3rd. We marked them and stayed as close as possible on the uphills and gain time back on the downs.
We were riding together with them until just after the Aid station.

To quote Mical's blog " On one of the steep gravel climbs Sue spun out and I heard the voices in my head.. "She's walking it, you can walk it too, we've got enough of a lead"....but I liked the voice that said "F&*% it, I'm riding this thing". Jeff was determined not to get "chicked" and as soon as we crested the hill we both grabbed a couple of gears and started givin er."

Well that was the turning point, we were racing from out front and had clear lines on the down hills. We gave it everything on the ups. Soon they were out of sight but we still kept driving it. Mical and I had a talk on Day 4 about what is worth it and what isn't and how that statement can motivate you to great results. That is all we kept saying as we rode in the red zone for the rest of the day. "It is World Cup racing, it is worth it" and by golly we were flying. the course took us way below the start line and 5 km more then the profile said. I even messed with my own partner when I said this should be the last climb. When it was apparent that it wasn't Mical firmly stated"Don't ever tell me that again". We laugh about it now, thank goodness.

The finally climb was 2 km on steep road. We sounded terrible, huffing and puffing and blowing the top off. As we crested the top of the pavement I told Mical to bring us home only to have her jam on the brakes as we had to climb a stair case to get to the single track. Mical summed it up great with " WTF"..

Once on the single track we knew we had second on the day and second over all. What a rush. Down to the finish line where John and Gloria (Dee's parents), and Jay awaited us. Alana, my wife was there also and surprised us the night before by flying in for the finish.
Happy to be done!!!

The first order of business was a shower then to the bar for a cool cider.

The awards were surprisingly quick and it was really surreal to be up on the podium with 5 pro athletes.

I have the hardware and memories of a fantastic race. I just found out that it is almost $1000 cheaper if we sign up now for next year. It must have been a good race as I am giving it serious thought.

The thought process of not quitting

2009-07-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

Lets talk about the Iron Lung. I have never had a good race at this event. Last year it was cold and rainy. I had to beg the Georgetown climb every lap. I ended up tired, sore and almost last(assuming you couunt me in forn to fthe guys who DNF). But I had no doubt that I would finish the race.

Now this year was a bit different. I had the good stress of watching the Spinsisters racing that morning which was very exciting. But it does take some energy to do that but it was well worth it. This was only my second ABA cup race and I had just gotten over being sick. So I knew it would not be the best race but it is all training anyway.

Elite Men had 5 laps to do, 5 Devonian drops, 5 Georgetown climbs, 5 hard and technical single track climbs. I knew that I would be tired and near the back but I was okay with that. I was riding into my 4th lap and just after the fast rolling section off the start I flew into the single track full of roots. I have done this lots of times and didn't think anything on it until I just touched a root, got on top of the bars and had teh handle bars turn completely sideways. Here was the result:

I have another picture just after the race that shows all the blood and gorey details.

So there I am lying on the ground wrapped up in my bike pondering life. I know mmy face hurts and that i am bleeding from someplace on my left cheek. I use the back of my glove to find out where the blood is from and how bad it is. I push against the bone and deduce that it is not broken. I run my toungue around the inside on my mouth and make sure I still have all my chiclets. Then I just lie there for a few seconds. I get up and look down the trial. Then a voice in my head say" it is just not your day". I turn my bike up the trail and start to walk back to the start/finish line. This would have been the first race I had ever quit. I turn the bike around and decide to finish. No, I turn the bike around again and start walking out. I stop again and turn the bike around stare down the trail and ponder. Maybe just one more lap. I am not bleeding that bad and the course is kind of fun. Down the trail I go. I ride totally within myself and start having a much better time. I nail the DD, I cruise the Orchid, I sit in on the GTC and before you know it I am back at the start. Well heck, I have done 4 I might as well do 5. Not caring about my time I ran almost a faster lap on number 5 then 2 and 3.

At the finish Jay meets me away from the crowd. He knew I was injured. He just came up asked me if I was okay and did I need anything. I said no and he rubbed my back in that "good job, I am here for you" way and sent me off on my cool down. It really looked worse than it was. My eye did swell shut but soon healed up.

So, was it the right thing to do, should I have stopped? I was the only person who could decided that. The battle in my head went on for a while but after a good self check and deducing the extent of my injuries, finishing was the right call. Just because it does not go your way does not mean you give up. There are many lessons to learn about perservering and changing a game plan once in motion. I pride myself in having finished the race, no one would have faulted my for it but I would have always second guessed the decision. My bike was working and the injury although painful did not limit my ability to ride. From racing to training ride in one quick splat of the face.

Enduros !!

2009-07-03T21:16:00.001-07:00

I was a little nervous to do my first enduros back in Canada. I had such a good ride in South Africa but due to the weather and the schedule it was going to be a while until i could test the legs.

The TransStoney was going to be the firstof the year but there was a ABA Cup race teh day before at the same venue. Oh well it is all training right??

The Bacon Buffet went well I was able to hold a good start pace and stay with Dead Goats Devin and Craig. We went in circles for about 2 hours and got a third out of the day. I was feeling pretty good but was curious how the next day would go.

The TransStoney worked out much better than expected. I darted off the front and Craig Stapler and I rode away after getting back on course due to my wrong turn. We rode together for about 3 hours. It was awesome! I really like riding/racing Craig. he is a great competitor and strong rider. We kept the pace high and roade with each other and were very gentlemanly about the whole thing. He asked if I was stopping for a pit, I said Yes so he stopped too. He slowed to ask one of his teammates if they were okay after a mechnical and I waited for him. I fed him M&Ms in the pits. We wanted to settle it on the course. At about 3 and a half hours Craig dropped back a bit and I "attacked", as much as you "attack" in an enduro. I increased the pace just a bit but kept on it for 2 laps. I could not see him at some of the vantage points so it was my race to win. I stayed with the plan and kept fueling each lap and using time markers to keep the pace. After being rained on and 6 hours I won the first Trans Stoney event. A good start to the season.

The next weekend was the Salty Dog. One of my most favorite races and courses around. The climbs are challenging but do-able. Most of your vertical is on a dirt road and the single track down is so much fun. They have a Salty Pup race for the kids that runs at the same time.
This is a grass roots race that invites all levels of riders to join th fun. It was really cool that our Boys week of riding ended with the race. Rob, Habs, and Ryan threw their hats in the ring with Rob and Habs doing a duo team jamming out 7 laps and Ryan getting 7 laps as well. This was Robbs first race and he may have got the bug.

I had a pretty good cold going but somehow that did not effect the performance? The motivation was low but I just kept doing a lap at a time and thought I could pull out at any time. I didn't though. I just held a steady pace and kept going and going. 3rd oveall with 9 laps in a faster time then last year. I paid for it the next week. I didn't really get out of bed on Monday and Tuesday and thook it easy for the follwoing week.

All that was on the calander for the next bit was the Iron Lung and the Canmore Canada cup before the big BC Bike Race with Mical.

2009-07-03T20:46:00.000-07:00

So I am back writing. You can see why I got a C in journal keeping. All these events happen so fast and then I am focused on the next one.

Let's finish the Cape story so I can get on to the new stage race deets.

Day 5

Long hard and fun at the finish. Up and down, repeat. The climbs were good and teh decents fast. The day was good and a couple cool things happened today. No mechaniclals!!!!!! We also made a bold move and jumped onto the wheel of 2 Scott riders. The one taller guy was a work horse and drove the pace hard. So hard he pulled us for 30-40 minutes along a railway bed and moved us up huge n the GC. We were lovingthe free ride and had time to enjoy the view.

The day ended with some actual good single track. Single track that would pass even here in Canada. Greg put the 29ers to work and flowed it nice.

Day 6

Out and back to Oak Valley. Watch out for the scary descent.....owwwwwww...scary descent. Yes it was loose but scary only because of the number of people on it and the spastic moves.
We passed a team along a railroad grade road with a helicopter flying beside us. Full coverage if only we had the sattelite channels to get this at home.
It ended again with some good single track again.

Day 7 and the Finish.

We thought we roade a great day. We passed tons of people. We hammered hard. We dropped some more spots????????????? I guess everyone else had the same idea. It was nice to know we were on our wat to the finish. I warned Greg about the "neutral race zone". The most idiotic thing in racing. We have to pass over a private section of land the has no passing in it. Everyone stacks up and gets so frustrated that it has a terrible feel to the end of the race. They should just stop the race there and let us cruise to the finish and talk to our buddies on the trail. oh well it didn't matter as the finish line rock.

You get ot go up on stage to get your medals, you get your transponder deposit back, AND a kick ass gift basket. We recieved a picnic basket with:cheese/crackers, meats, a blanket, and a bottle of white wine!!!!! It was incredible to hang around and eat drink and chat with everyone. A perfect way to complete the Epic.

Alana and I hung out for another 2 weeks and enjoyed the wonders of South Africa. I won't bore you with the home movies and slide show but Rhinos and Savanna Dry ciders were everywhere.

I took 2 full weeks off training and was worried about the fitness and training I had missed. As you see by the date of this post I have had some time to reflect and 2 weeks off was a good thing.

More to come!!

Racers Amnesia

2009-04-29T13:17:00.001-07:00

It has been a month since I posted anything, especially anything about the Cape Epic. So sad really. I just haven't been inspired to write about it yet. I don't know why. It was a great race, I had a great partner, we did well and then I went on vacation. Hmmmmmm. Is that it? Sort of but let's try to expand on some to the deets.

The prologue was really cool. Each team got the realu UCI count down with the beeper and the Marshall doing the count down wiht the fingers then pointing you out. Felt like a pro!! Greg and i agreed to take it on the easy side to see where we would land without blowing our brains out. We did well with a 67 in our Cat. The climbing was inter-spaced with some serious loose down hills. Marbles on concrete loose. We survived with no crashes and a good feeling about the race.

Me railing it in the Prologue.

Day 1 took us from the town of Gordon's Bay up over the mountains and into some pretty good moving pace lines. Of course this was after the mandatory dismount area that we had to wait 5 minutes at and some of our friends had to wait up to 30 minutes at. We did well again this day and we believe it was because it was the longest day and Greg and I kept a solid pace each day. Maybe not fast off the start but solid, most solid-o.

Nice berm and bum. That is Greg leading us down some of the precious single track. Notice the SpinSister proudly worn!! Representing!!

Day 2 was something special to say the least. We had a good start and could tell we were with the big dogs. Not THE big dogs, but still some big dogs. We were cruising pretty good when Greg slammed a soccer ball sized rock. Soooooooo...he ripped the side wall of his tire big time. Like 1.5 inch gash. We were at a bit of a loss as to what to do. Greg had a almost big enuf patch for the tear but it would not hold for the rest of the day, 67 km to the finish. I pulled deep on teh strings of memory and remembered that in a Sea2 Summit race we had the same problem and taped it shut. We started with the electrical tape that I had on my pump and that got us to the first aid station. We needed wider tape to keep the tube inside the tire and the onely thing we could find was medical tape from the Paramedics. It is know the tape of choice. It is 2 inches wide, is made of fibers, and has just a bit of stretch. It worked so well it barely looked used when we crossed the finish line 67km later. We lost a lot of spots as we were standing still for 20 minutes but atleast we did not DNF.

Too tired to cut off the zip ties. Lazy Jeff, lazy!

Day 2 was a big hike-a-bike followed by a screaming fast downhill. Double wide road with 2 distinct tracks that would come and go into a single. Being full of bravado and passing on the outside at 50kph I hit a rock and split a sidewall. Just like Greg the day before. Only 5 minutes to fix. Hit up the same medic for the magic tape and we were off. Race experience paid off in one day, go figure. The day went well but we had trouble finding our groove again. We crossed the finish line and pigged out, 3 spaghetti bolognese and a fruit smoothie. I am not sure if it was the quantity or quality of the food but for the next 36 hours it felt like I had a knot in my stomach. I could eat, bu tit was a battle at times just to get in what I knew I should.

Day 3 I had to eat sparingly due to the belly issue and Greg and I found that we were waiting too long to start our eating regime. Each day we were holding our own but in the last hour we would pass 20-30 teams. How can that be? Well Greg set a most impressive consistent pace on the uphills and I could get into flow on hte roads. Together we were nailing the team dynamics and by the end of the day we had stuff in the tanks to keep going while the other teams slowed down. We came up with this saying that described it perfect" C chute start, B chute finish".

Day 4 the belly issue resolved itself by 11am. It was over in a blink of an eye. I could start eating and drinking at will to get the calories in. The day also lent itself to my strength on the team, pace lining. Greg made a bold move and covered a surge by the Scott Bicycle team. I missed the initial move and had to fight hard to get to Greg's wheel. We just sat in while their strong man cranked the tempo and pulled us along. It was a cool feeling to be sitting in and going that fast. We lost them on a hill but as I had sat-in and rested I was good to go. Greg jumped behind me and with his constant words of encouragment we were flying. Teams that we had not seen yet in the race were reeled in and spit out. Greg would come around and give me a break so I could eat and drink then it was back to the front to set the pace. Greg words, the speed, the rabbits, and the day made for a true race feeling. As we approached the finish Greg jumped around me and just hammered. I returned the favor to Greg and just keep yelling positive things to him. We must have been doing 35-37kph down ath dirt road. Greg had 2km of pure animalistic racing. Unfortuneatley the finish line was 2.8 km. We rounded a corner thinking it was the end but no. Lucky we had been going so fast and I was rested we were able to keep the impressive speed to the end.

Spent and dusty. The guys behind were the Colgate team that we caught just before teh finish line. On the back of theirs jerseys it read" I am smiling because I am in front of you!" Nice!

Day 4-7 coming soon.

3 days of quick updates

2009-03-23T05:49:00.000-07:00

Limited internet so I will do a quick update then add pictures and such after\

Prologue-
Hot but short. Paced it really well. Roade thru lots of burned areas. Almost cancelled prologue due to fires. Still smoldering as we rode by. Looooooooooose decends played it safe. Very happy with results.

Day 1- tough day. 36 degrees (africa hot) shorts felt hot against skin. Agian rode within the limits and gained on groups thru out the day. Beautiful views at top of mountain overlooking Gordons Bay and the ocean. Long day and was way more defficult then any stage at previous Epics. People who have done all the Capes call it teh toughest day ever!! It was ll about hydration and nutrition. I felt strong and was able to help out on the road sections. Ate lots and in bed by 8:30.
Managed to arrange a 1 hour massage everyday...YAHOOOO

Day 2-
You may have noticed the drop in placing....Greg blow out a sidewall at km 37. Good patching and wrapping the tire to the wheel with electrical tape did the trick. However Greg had to ride cautiously for the rest of the race. He also kepp rolling his front tire off his wheel. He now owns 2 brand new tires. Good day when we hit the road. Grabbed some fun pace lines and got cooking. Neither of us felt bad as we had to keep stopping to fill the tires and do repairs. Looking forward to tomorrow. I am send all htis from the internet cafe in the racers village. Pretty sweet hey?

Looking forward to tomorrow.
Cheers,
Jeff

Travel, rest Travel, prepare, ride

2009-03-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

I will have to give you a short version of what has been going on. I have been saving all my blog posts on my computer and it now has dementia and cannot remember how to connect ot the internet.
The travels were good not surprises and we got to stay at our friends Bruce and jen's house in Dubai. Coconut, fig, banana, avocado trees. Nice!
Did a pre-ride of the prologue and it was good to stretch out the legs ofter so much down time. Loose gravel on hard pack for the downhills. Sketchy!!!!!
Greg and I decided to run a smooth and well paced Prologue and that is just what we did. Smooth accelerations constant pace from start to finish. Greg is flying on the downhills with his 29er I have to be off the breaks all the time to keep up.
We are VERY happy with our placing 67th overall. The list of goals-have fun, ride hard, top 100 and the dream of top 60. So close but we still plan on riding a smrt race.
Legs feel good and as soon as we get to the tent village all the logistics settle down. We all are herding cats to get things done each day. It is just the reality of trying to keep 13 people on track. Each person steps up and keeps everyone in line. It is nice sometimes just to be told what to do. 7am start with a 5am wakeup. It won't matter as we all are in a different time zone anyway.
Scenery is spectacular, people are great and life is good.
I will try ot post some pics and reports but I am unsure of the internet situation. You may have to wait to hear the real story behind the times.
Cheers,
Jeff

Dry Run in Phoenix

2009-03-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

What could be better than leaving -22C and going riding in Phoenix at +24C?? Not that I am rubbing it in as we still had to come back and spend the last frigid days losing our tans and acclimatization. It was still good to get out and feel the joy of riding again.
We took the West Jet flight down where my friend Paul and I got to sit in the front row thus completing one of Paul's life goals. Steve, not wanting any part of us sat several rows back and proceeded to sleep the whole flight.

We were able to get a ride in that night at the McDowell race loops. This is the location of the old Cactus Cup races that were so popular n the late 80s and early 90s. There are 3 separate loops-the Long, sport, and technical loop. The whole reason for this trip was to work out the bugs. I forgot my shoes and broke my seat clamp. How do you like them bugs. Steve lent me his shoes and my wife Alana, being the superstar she is lent me her seat clamp and drove to the bike store for replacement.

Steve, Paul, and myself started on the Technical loop. None of which are over the top hard but you should meter out your excitement for riding on your first day. Steve crashed 30 seconds into the ride on the first drop because he was so excited to be riding again. He graciously picked himself up and we continued on with no further events. We rode for about 1 hour and were treated to a beautiful sunset all the while singing laughing and wondering why we live somewhere that you can't ride year round.

The next day the 8 of the 10 "CAPE CREW"(Jeff, Alana, Steve, Fazian, Paul,Matt, George, Kim), rode the National Trail. The "Teacher of Terror", as the guide calls it, was a true test of every ones skill, and courage. 10 minutes into the ride I fell over backwards and dislocated my left pinkie. I would have a photo but I was a little too freaked out about my finger pointing sideways to snap the shot. My Mom says she can now sleep well at night knowing I am married to a Nurse Practitioner. Alana came down the trail pulled my finger, hehehe, and it just popped back into place. Steve taped it to my other finger and we continued on.

Fazian and Matt trying their hand at the technical climbing.

This trail has it all. Technical ups and downs, ledges, buff single track, double swooping trails, elevation, good breaks, the works!! We all hit the dirt at some time. Kim may take the prize here but for a guy who has only been a mtb bike a few times he was doing great.

Kim and I comparing wounds at the end of the day.

The Teacher of Terror, just one of the very none forgiving downhills. Steve leading his Cape partner Alana thru the mayhem.

George bringing everyone home on the Desert Classic.

The Desert Classic wraps up the whole loop on some swooping double track. It is almost Zen like to push a good tempo pace and rail the corners especially after having to walk down most of Telegraph Pass.

We always try to squeeze in a hike up in the Superstition Mountains before the plane ride home. We made it up to the water falls and enjoyed the view before heading back to the land of snow and ice.

It is just days away before we travel 43 hours to South Africa. A cleaning and tweaking of the bikes and we should be good to go. The dry run was all that it was suppose to be.

A quick eat ath the boys house and Alana, Paul, Steve and I were looking for our second ride. The boys had put in an earlier ride waiting for us to get organized. The first words out of my mother-in-laws mouth Saturday morning were "all you can eat pancakes". I was out of bed and picking up Paul and Steve in no time. We ended up being the talk of breakfast. 4 hungry athletes chowing down on flapjacks. They could not bring them fast enough. Word travels fast around the Park and most of the folks we sat with knew the whole story of South Africa. After making pigs of ourselves we were a little late to the trail head. oops.

We finished off a splendid Saturday in style.

Preparation for the Cape Epic 2009

2009-03-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

Well in less than 2 weeks I will be finished Day 4 of the 2009 Cape Epic. I am trying to figure out the best tires for DRY, WARM conditions. This is quite the contrast to the wet snow and low of minus 9 today in Calgary. Tires, Dry lube, 3 liter Camelbak, lots to think of before we go.

Even though the race is only weeks away there has been so much preparation. The training has been the biggest and most constant item. So what does it take to complete this race? My season started October 28th with the first of my spin classes. Since then it has been 3 days a week of indoor cycling. Tuesday night for 90 minutes, Thursday for 2 hours and Saturday morning for 2 hours. We have started with 20 minutes of E3/Tempo riding and pedaling drills and have progressed to 120 minutes of E3/Tempo riding last Saturday. Sundays are for long xc skiing or hiking. Add to this Core class every Monday, weights and a 1 hour run on Wednesdays. I did a phase of 1 hour extra workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays to build some leg strength. It leaves me with Fridays completely off and time to wrap up some life things. When I get back I will do 2 workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Weekends will be racing and long 4-5 hours rides.

My plan for this race is not to peak for it but use it as the final push in my Base building phase. My partner Greg is a very strong rider with a great competitive streak. We have been talking and agree to the following goals: 1/ Have Fun, 2/ Ride Hard, 3/ top 100 out of 600 teams, 4/ and if we are feeling really good go for top 60.
I feel that this year I have improved once again and now that I have year over year data, all the numbers support this improvement also.

With all the training and working it has been a real balancing act. I have to watch the diet and sleep so that I don’t get sick or run low on energy. I have dropped some weight but will not be down to race weight probably until June.

It is off to Phoenix this weekend to ride outside. Yippee!!! We planned this trip as a dry run for what we will need to bring and to get some bike handling skills. There are 14 Canadians going to the Cape Epic this year and 10 are our group from Calgary. There are 8 of us going to Phoenix this weekend so it will be good to meet, ride and socialize before we go to the big show.

Only 5 classes and 12 days left. I had better go do something productive like find my helmet!!

Jeff

Day #8

2007-04-05T00:35:00.000-07:00

Day #8
Kleinmond To Lourensford Vineyard

The race that would not end!!!

So after yesterday dance on the surface on the sun what could be worse? I’ll tell you what. How about another trip up the valley of eternal heat!

Yep the stage re-traced the last 25 km on the day before. Now granted it was not 41 but with a late start and a desert head wind I felt like the villain in T2,just melting.

Darrell and I got thru it by putting our heads down and just kept riding. Once to the top of the broiler-esque climb it was into the shade of some trees and some fast road descents.

The route took us up to a National Park were we had to do a mandatory portage of our bikes. The pass we went thru was used by the Dutch settlers and you can see the ruts in the stone left by the wagons.

The finish line was quite impressive. We got our finisher medals on a big stage and then rounded the corner to a festival type atmosphere. There was a dee-jay up on stage playing great music and beer and food stalls everywhere.

Well, that’s that. We set out to achieve 3 things. Have Fun, enjoy the sights, and ride well. We accomplished all!! There are more photos and stories we are saving for when we get home but let’s talk about those over a nice cold beer!!

Cheers Jeff and Darrell.
P.S.

I might do the race again but I found a much easier mode of transport.

Day #7

2007-04-05T00:21:00.000-07:00

Into the rotisserie

Two big hill descrbes the day with a little some’in some’in at the end.

I got the feeling we were travellin thru Scotland if it turned completely arid. The hill were strewn with white rock and the peaks were well rounded. Darrel put the “tree trunks”his term not mine, to action onthefirst climb and made up a bunch of spots. Maybe it was the thought that our wives and Darrells son Kiel were at the finish brandishing some cold Castles or us that made him move. The climb was very ong and very sustained but we sat in with our pace and just got’er done.

Day 7 Villesdoorp to Kleinmond
.

From one valley to the next things can change dramatically. After the second water pint the climb summits on this red dirt with large trees that provide just a tease of shade.

Out on to the road and then a climb into the double secret “south African Insitiute for Sattelite and software Development” Three fences-6 foot chain link-electric razor wire-6 foot chain link. This is defineatley wee the aliens come for vacation.

So what’s up with the rotesseire?? Well let me esplain to ju!

We descend from the ET landing spot to a rolling valley trail that would take us to the coast with the promise of a cool ocean breeze. Riiiiiiight! There was a warm, no hot tail wind, in the valley blowing in from the desert to the north. Every time you went up hill you matched the wind speed, were in dead air and instantly broke out in a sweat EVERYWHERE! On the down hill you had to pedal to get going just fast enough to get in front of the wind for a minor cool down, then back up hill. It literally felt like rotessiere. Oh what was the temperature you ask. A mind melting 41 degrees that’s it.. This is the last picture I took before my camera oozed into a puddle of elecrtonics and plastic.

We had a beach finish and were rewarded with ice cream and smoochies from our wives.

The accommodations were a little sketchy. Just check out the paiting on Darrell’s wall. Look real close!!!

Day # 6 Montagu to Villesdorp

2007-04-03T02:00:00.000-07:00

The stage was fairly straight forward today with two big climbs and 30 km fast tar road to start the day. The line for our starting chute was too long so we waiting for the gun to go and jumped in with the riders that we ride with after a couple of hours. It made a huge difference. The pace lines stuck together and there were less people falling off the trail.

Power lines and sand are what greeted us for the first climb. It was like they took a page out of the Trans Rockies play book. “We need to get to the to the other valley, these power lines go to the other valley, hmmmmm” It was not as bad as it seems. I think we are numb to the distance and vertical after 6 days in the saddle.

The second climb was a steep up hill to the radio tower outside of town. It was pock marker by cattle and very rough, but at the end it was my turn to buy Darrell a beer for placing no divet on the hill

After the top of the hill it was a fast 35kph along the aqueduct into town. This picture was actually preety hard to take at theat speed.

Before our post stage ritual of water and food we took a stop in the chill tub. The water feels cold but I am sure it is 20 degrees. Notice the brown tinge to the water from the dirt chamois cream and who knows what else.

Bumper to bumper traffic, views, and chamois cream

2007-04-02T00:28:00.000-07:00

Barry dale to Montagu

We stayed at a very nice farmer house last night 7km outside of town. The owners were Duo (dee-u) and Marianna. The house was built by Duo’s grandfather and has been passed down to the sons. Duo and his dad look so much like each other in their wedding photos it leads one to believe Duo is a clone. They were extraordinary people and we sat and talked for about 1 hour. They own 110 hectares of land mainly for sheep and some cattle but around the house are orchards. The also produce beet and carrot seed and just plow the plant in at the end of the season. Now you know where all the seeds come from!

This is the view from their front stoop. Very quaint and relaxing.

The race started thru the orchards until we reached the first climb we saw this rare site. Capus Epicus is a rare snake species that only appears once a year in South Africa. It is distinguishable by its spectrum of colors and its rubber like under side. The Capus Epicus will become aggressive and ornery when it is hunger, thirsty, or tired but is normally quite pleasant.

As we approached the day’s first hill and were prepared to show our climbing prowess we notice a strange site not often encountered in Canada. The whole race was at a stand still. Not for a horrendous accident or incredible technical section. It was literally backed up with congestion. I guess when you try to squeeze 1200 riders up a single track things get tight. We actually stood there for 3 min until the line started its slow grind to the top. Once passed the first section the boys from the great white north were off and riding much to the surprise of locals who were mad at the organizers for putting in another “un-climb-able” hill.

We had a good day and with some fast pavement down hills and some good double and single-track descents.

Things were going good but I found a way to make them better. Chamois cream!!!! I normally don’t use it, as I don’t have any major problems with the “undercarriage”. As we refilled at the last stop I thought, “hey why not, go ahead and try it. The medics had tubs of it and I put aside the thought that someone may have double dipped and caked it on. At first it is rather ODD but as I rode the effects were fantastic. It took the sting out of sitting on the seat making it an almost enjoyable place to put one’s bottom.

We were treated to a stay in the Villa Victoria the is rated 4 stars. What makes a 4 star B and B in Africa. Well look at the room and then take notice of the lavender sticks placed in the shitter paper.

I hear it snowed in Calgary. Need I say it?

From the Fridge to the Sauna

2007-04-02T00:10:00.000-07:00

A beautiful and crisp morning greeted us as we left Ladismith. I left my arm warmers in the bag and paid for it. The first part of the race was downhill on road and I was actually shivering until the climbing started. We passed thru a beautiful valley with the classic African tree standing atop the ridge like a sentinal watching us pass.

It was mainly pace lines until we passed Ronnie’s sex shop and headed into Leopard Rock Game reserve. There are all kinds of things you can use as chamois cream when in a pinch.

The reserve was mainly flat with endless sand traps. That’s fine if you are golfing but trying to ride them is like having your tires go completely flat then instantly re-inflate. You slow down, lose control; pedal hard and get a mall break until the next one.

Just a couple of climbs that were quite enjoyable (i thinkit's sick that climbs become enjoyable). Darrell and I had several rather good conversations on the way up and could be heard yelling Weeeeeeeeee on the way down,

Shade is at a primium in South Africa, you take it where ever it is. Her we are re-hashing the day with our buddies from Germany

Every night they have local musician play during dinner. This isa drummng group. The three guys up front were just givin' it.

Check this out! This is one of the mobile watering units they use at check points. Alll the water, 80,000 liters is brought from one spot and they have large flow hoses out the back. One is water and one is powerade. You can get you camelback filled in seconds with either.

Well another day another saddle sore.

Jeff and Darrell

Day 3

2007-04-01T05:53:00.000-07:00

Day #3-Of Climbs and Walks!!

A beautiful morning greeted us in Oudtshoorn with a morning temperature of 20 degrees. No need for arm warmers or leggings. Darrell had to remedy an, ummm open sore on his butt and I had my knee taped to help the patella track proper. Then we were off.

To sum up the day it was across up/down/across/up/down etc and then across. It was into the desert with so much dust being kicked up my glasses were coated. It was humorous to watch everyone drive blind on the trail and then up having a yard sale when they hit the sand. We rode thru the Karaboo Game reserve but alas saw no lions or tigers or bears, Oh My. I did see a whole donkey train with them making all their ass noises. There were small asses and big asses and unfortunately rather foul smelling asses as well.

It is now certified and official most people in SA cannot ride up hill. The mule train started again on the first climb and we did Canada proud by only having to walk 400m all day. It must be mental because as soon they get back on the road they are gone!!

The route took us to the top of a mountain with a near 360 degree view.

We had near 20kms of downhill after with half being swoopy fast double track. Then it kicked us onto a road were the trains formed up and the pace was high all the way to Water station #2.

After that it was up again for some challenging and rewarding climbs. Challenging meaning friggin hard and on rewarding meaning thank the bike gods that is over.

There is nothing quite like hitting a 7km/1200 foot uphill on black pavement in the middle of a valley in 36 degree weather. The sound of your water bottle boiling whistling like a kettle is not encouraging.

Still working on how to stay full of fuel when riding for over 7 hours. Fed Darrell full of bars, coke, gels, and espresso hammer gel. That put the snap back into him.

We traveled thru orchards today in the last stretch. The countryside is stunning with the mountains behind the orchards rising thousands of feet to frame a beautiful picture.

Here is a sampling of what I ate in the last couple of hours. I like sugar, I really, really like sugar.

Tales from Beyond

2007-04-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back to a town with an internet connection that works!!

Some may have got the stories but here they are again with pretty pictures. I will post several days woth but will keep you in suspense and will not post day 6 and 7 until tomorrow.

Enjoy!!

Day 2 Update via Alana, the spousal correspondent

2007-03-25T17:15:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
Finally heard from Jeff this am, after finishing a very tough 2nd day of the race. 132 km, 36 degrees, and some of it was through desert/savannah, so they perhaps did catch a glimpse of elephants or rhinos, but we can never be certain whether it was real, or the dehydration-induces hallucinations. Jeff ran out of water 2 km before the last checkpoint, which was 15 km before the finish. Why bother putting an aid station that close to the finish? because the was the gnarly up/down and climbing section - Jeff said quite similar to doing Skogan Pass 2 1/2 times. He went through 2.5 litres in that last 15 km, which took them 2hours. The wind is not much relief either - feels like a hairdryer blowing right into your face. They also were struck by mechanicals - 6 flats and a broken chain. Grrr. They moved up some places, but estimate they lost 35 minutes to mechanicals. Let's hope that's out of their systems!

And to recap Day 1 - also a tough day - adjusting to the heat, abdominal cramps... but they persevered.

So their spirits are high - bellies are all back in order, no crashes, and are feeling stronger as they adjust to the time difference. The race is very well organized, and have met wonderful people and hosts. They are definitly looking forward to their massage today, and have only a little bit of chafe so far.....good thing they have am amply stocked first aid kit!

Internet access is a bit scanty, but will hopefully improve and Jeff can add pics, and the more specific details. I will try to update as I get info before I leave.

Alana

Finally Made It to SA

2007-03-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

Well I have arrived in SA after almost 35 hours of travel.

First stop was London where I had a 10 hour lay-over sooooo I jumped on the "tube" and headed down town. This is my first impression of London,Picadilly Circus. I know why it is called a circus, it had to be the busiest spot I have every been to. Cars whipping around, couriers dodging all the cars, people dodging the couriers, signs, stores.

I went for a walk-about and ended up at Buckingham Palace. Then back on the tube to wait 1 hour in the security line-up.

I travelled Virgin Atlantic to Cape Town. The service was incredible and I got ot play video games on the seat back TV. heh heh. I was playing Alpha dog with the guy next to me who thought he was intitiled to the whole arm rest. I slowly snuck my arm behind his and over the next 10 min pushed his arm forward until I had the arm rest. YEEEESS! Victory was mine.

Next Stop the ocean. yeep that's right that is the Indian Ocean behind Darrell and I. Notice that Darrell doesn't look nearly as tired as i do. I guess First Class on British Airways is better then economy ;).

The places are beautiful and dynamic. We drove through the city which is sacry as it is right hand drive and you have to drive on the left side of the road. More then once I heard" the ditch, the ditch, you almost in the F---ing ditch. Way more scary for Darrell I guess.

We went for a warm up ride and rode up the hill awasy from the town of Knysna. As soonas the ocean views were lost the shantys appeared. They truthfully are boxes with roofs. Your garden shed is built better. The people were smiling and waving to us and one litlle kid tried to keep pace for a minute. Tomorrow is the start and we are excitied to "get'er done".

Going to bed early nine local, 1300 in Calgary.

Jeff

Would you like to look at the menu??

2007-03-19T21:05:00.000-07:00

Would you like to look at the menu??

This is part of what I plan to eat for the 8 days. I will still make my trusty PB&J. I will also make sandwhiches, eat fruit at the checkpoints/aid stations, have liquid fuel in my bottles and eat breakfast and dinner.

As the race is long we will need lots of calories from different sources.

Yes, that's right there are over 32 gels there. Any one want to ride behind me? Darrell has graciously offered to lead the charge.

Jeff

Training camp in Phoenix

2007-03-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago Darrell, ( my race partner), and I went to Phoenix to do some training and acclimitize to the heat. It was 28-31 degrees and sunny. We did several long days and some good hill climbs. This is a picture of Darrell riding the Desert Classic trial. It is the last portion of a long technical loop. The trail makes you want to scream " weeeeeeeeee", as you can tell by the ---- eating grin on Darrell's face.We ran into some bike troubles(read-ran into a rock) on the first day down there. We could only do some road riding but boy was it awesome. We climbed up to a small old town called Tortilla Flats were we let the steeds take a break while we went inside for some prickly pear cactus ice cream. It has a mild berry taste and man is it yummy.

It was a hot day and after 4 hours in the saddle we took advice from Darrell's coach, Me ;) , and we had a little siesta.

Here's hoping that all that riding down south will pay off.

Jeff

2007-03-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

The Start of Jeff's Big Day Out

2007-03-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

This blog was created to keep my friends and family updated while I am on my Big Day Out!

I will be travelling to South Africa to ride in an endurance mountain bike race called the Cape Epic. The race is an eight day stage race that travels 866 km and 13 000 vertical meters. My friend Darrell asked me to do this way back in November and for some reason I said "sure".

We have both completed several TransRockies, which is a similar race right here in B.C./Alberta.

I am going to try to keep everyone updated as I participate in this great event.

I hope you enjoy!!

Jeff