Fitchburg Longsjo Classic

With my recent injury in a crash in philly it meant that I had to leave my team mates to handle the Tour de Beauce with out me. (Not that I was needed. Scott Swiz was still able to win the over all…pretty impressive).

This also meant that I had to modify the schedule a bit and head out to the Longsjo Classic in Fitchburg (near Boston).
This is one of, if not the oldest stage race on the NRC I think. This year it was a tough set of stages but no epic climbs so good for the harder sprinters who can suffer up the poppers and rolling hills around the area. After the first stage time trial the team had 3 in the top 4. Unfortunately the one spot we didn’t have was # 1. That belonged to Tom Zirbel from Bissell.

The second stage was struck by a a storm of rain and we went on the attack. I got into the move after a hard attack near the mid way point. I worked hard to keep the move away as I was only down on Tom by 34 sec. We only managed to keep 10 of the seconds our breakaway had earned…still it put me closer. and moved me into 2nd overall.

The third stage was a longer race with 10 1.5 km climbs. A tough day that saw a break go and get brought back and then lots of attacking in the closing laps. The finish was up the hill and I hit the gas at the base…I got a gap and came in the top 5. The gap gave me another 17 or so seconds back on Tom. This meant going into the last crit.

The team let a the break put pressure on the Bissell train. We helped a bit towards the end of to bring the break back to within 20 sec. Then we started to attack. With Scott within 11 sec and me at 6 we had some tools David V launched Scott (after working a lot) and they got a gap and forced Bissell to chase them hard. Then when they where caught I countered and left the field and bridged what was left of the small gap. Once I reached the break there was only 5 laps to go and with a team mate (who was already in the break, Reid Mumford) we drag raced it to the finish and put enough time on the field for me to take the overall. It was exciting to take the lead on the final move. What a good team win…everyone produced and the result was the leaders jersey on the last day.

Double T

We had the nationals Time Trial yesterday. Last year in Beauce. Same course again. I have been 3rd the last 2 years here. in 2007 I was behind Ryder and Svein. In 2008 it was svein and Roth. This year was the first year I came in with a good chunk of road under my belt this year. But also it is also the first year I have had to deal with a significant injury coming into it. At the Philadelphia classic I crashed after blowing my front tire and separated my AC (collar bone).

After the start I felt like I would have to be pretty disciplined about not going to hard to early. The nature of the course out here means you have to pick your battles…push really hard in certain places and almost rest in others.

I think I was able to use my constancy and volume to make the best of it. I went a good 30 sec or more faster than last year. Christian got the better of my by about 30 secs still…little guy has been riding tempo for team mates all year in the big pro tour so I was not surprised to seem him ride well but I was a little surprised to see him go so well. It is good to see the euro program is turning him into the rider we all knew he could be while on Symmetrics.

Svein also smashed it again and took the jersey he much deserves. So I was again the bronze medalist. but I keep inching closer to the top on time. Hopefully next year I will have a little better prep again and can pull something bigger out.

Road race is tomorrow.

More focus on Food

With the first hot days in the lower mainland this year I am doing some more bbq tests before I head away for the Summer of racing. Last night I cooked up and modified that burger recipe I put up last year. This one is new and tasty.

I am calling it a Hawaiian Taco Burger. It will make sense after you make it.

make up the burgers as before
1lb Ground Beef lean
Green onions
Chopped dried cranberries
One egg
3 Garlic Cloves
Roquefort Blue brie Cheese
1 tsp corn starch

now add 2 tbs of teriyaki sauce to the meat as well

this time make the burgers up in a long patty about twice as long as wide.
Cook on medium heat for 12 - 15min
Also once you have flipped the burgers put some fresh sliced pineapple on the grill as well.
Top the burgers with a tsp of cream cheese in the last 2 or 3 minutes of cooking.
Put a basil leaf and a half of a grilled pineapple slice on each patty and serve in a folded over NANN bread (like a taco, this is why the patties are longer instead of round) with what ever other burger condiments you like.

I think you will like.

Willmington and ACT NOW

Well I have been away from the old blog for a while…things are really busy with wedding planning, bike racing, and new global changing sponsors.

Spent the past weekend at the Wilmington GP and Kelly Cup. Both races are sponsored by our tittle Sponsor Kelly Benefits. After winning the Wilmington Race (see photos in my flikr). The team had a benefit dinner put together by John Kelly for our cause, World Bicycle Relief where we raised a lot of money for projects that provide high quality, durable bikes to facilitate transportation for people in 3rd world Africa (more on this in the future the team is just getting started.

Then this week I was home for one day then flew over to Victoria for my training as an athlete ambassador for ACT NOW BC. With this group I will be working at all kinds of schools and events across BC over the next two years promoting Social, Environmental, and Healthy living ideas and lifestyles to people of all ages. I am really excited to be involved with them and hope I can see lots of people getting involved in their great programs. There is something for everyone so check out the site.

I will update more on all this but right now it is heading towards 20 C and sunny in VAN so I wanna get on my BIKE…

Planet Organic YUMM YUMM

So we were down at the planet organic store in Port Coquitlum and picking up some great organic eats and I thought I would mix this with some of the food I tried in Thailand. It turned out so well I thought I would share it with you.

It is call Chicken Soup with Coconut milk. It is a spicy one.

2 cups chicken broth
on can of cocnut milk
3 sticks lemon grass
1 small bulb of Ginger
oyster mushrooms (1 - 2 cups)
chili peppers 3 - 6 depending on taste
2 thin sliced chickn breasts

Boil chicken broth
put in chicken, ginger, lemon grass mushrooms and coconut milk
boil for 5 mins
add peppers to taste and boil 5 more mins

Serve with steamed rice.
Enjoy

Thai

I am finishing off a one month road trip with a little flare. I started, as many of you know with a trip to LA to prep for track worlds. This was only a weeklong prep that was intended just to give me the feel for the track again. From there I went to Poland for the world championships where I got a mixed bag of results from fantastic to not so great…but none were disappointing which is better than worlds has gone for me in the past.

Then it was on to the tour of Thailand. Now there is always a little unknown when heading to a race like this. International racing can always go either way especially at the UCI 2.2 level.

Thailand did not disappoint. The FOOD has been amazing, Thai curries and soups and noodles and spice and nice…MMMM.

The race was well organized, well run, professional and efficient. Epic courses that were well marshaled and safe. And race hotels that were more than adequate.

Now the race is over, we won the prize and we have 3 days to kill before we fly out. What to do? We had to wait for flights because it was almost 4000 bucks cheaper to fly the team later. We are a pro team but that is a whole other stage race. So we wait, Bangkok is in the lock of protests. Jonas suggest we pay a couple hundred and fly to the tropical Thai island of Samui. OK

So we have had 48 hours of beach paradise in the gulf of Thailand. Tomorrow we will fly back to Bangkok and spend a night at an airport hotel before we fly out to our homes. The trip sure has been long. But chilling in a bungalow and contemplating things on the beach toady sure helped soften the stress of a long road trip at the end.

But I am still ready to trade tropical beaches and curry for rain in Vancouver and the breath of my fiancé….

Worlds Medal

I made the podium at worlds this weekend in Poland finally after 4 years of trying. It has been a good year moving forward and I am really starting to race with these guys. Worlds over all went well for me for the first time. Every other year I have crashed or made terrible tactical mistakes that put me out of races before they even began. So to have three races to do and to really get it more or less right on the last one was great. Unfortunately my race bag with my medal and all my cycling stuff, cameras was misplaced or more likely stolen during the massive international pack up and Exodus from the track. So I had my medal for about 10 min before it was gone. What the hell man. I am not sure why I have so much trouble with these UCI medals. The are going to be pissed if they keep having to mail me new ones. (Cali scratch gold came in the mail about a week before I left).

Here is an artical in the Globe on the race
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090329.wsptcdn29/GSStory/GlobeSportsOther/home/

Good News

I know it is mushy and it is not cycling related…but it is big news anyway for any friends I have who have not found out.

I don’t think I need to write anything else…

House cleaning

So after team camp there is always new stuff to deal with. First and foremost the extraction of old team gear from my small 600sqft apartment. The new kit is in. The new TT bike is in. the new team bikes are in. That means the oldies are out. So if anyone is looking for a TT bike it will be cheap. Seriously thought it is always an interesting time moving on to new kit. It is like changing your style. Going from goth to Gap. It is like a new beginning, new potential, new wins ans new races.

But then there is the old kit. With the s team it is sad to see it go. I really feel like I was part of canadian cycling history in the making there and I don’t think the story is over yet. Infact I would say the true impact of the S team is yet to be felt. Heck, Cam and Pinner are already proving how under estimated we seem to have been, each gaining a win in the tour of mexico. With Dwayner and the young man in the pro tour, Will on “the Belly” and 3 of us on kelly I think the S team may pull down more big results this year than ever before. So I will be distributing some of my old kit. But I will be sure to keep on piece of history in my closet for sure. Hoping I can add some sentimental value to the Kelly kit before too long.

Bike Team ASSEMBLE

Team camp …Finally…I have been waiting for this for a while. Warm weather and getting the guys together for some real honest bike riding. The first couple days have been comfortable, warm and sunny. We are still trying to work out the routes around San Antonio but we have found the odd road that has been pretty great. Hopefully soon we will have the routes dialed and we can really start hitting it. The race schedule is also starting to come together and I can’t say much about it but it looks like it is going to be pretty cool. It is pretty nice to be here with a proper team. We have had a police escort/rolling lane closure on our way out of town every day…and people seem to enjoy the pro team parade for the most part. It is about a 30 min ride to the nice roads so this help from the local police is very much appreciated.

Today we are going to drive out of town to see if we can find any different areas…and tomorrow we will do a road race to get everyone thinking about racing again. And so it begins.
SWEEET