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

2 sweet

The World Cup finished officially this weekend and I ended up in multiples of 2. I was 4th over all on the World cup ranking in both the Points and Scratch (I don’t think I have every gotten more than one or 2 points in this competition before)

And going into worlds it looks like I will have a #2 ranking in the points race on the UCI world ranking. I have been ranked that high on the UCI ranking before but that was before the major races of the year not after. Pretty cool. Ahead of me is Chris Newton from GB. What good company to have at the top. It is great to be mixing it with these guys. It has made the racing this year fun. I have been racing every race and that is with my training focused towards the road season. Things have just been going really well on the training side.

I head to our (Kelly Benefits) first big training camp on Wednesday. Great to be looking forward to more biking…what a great job this is…sorry if you are in an office.

I will hopefully have some updates of the fun down in Texas.

Global Morning News on the same day as OBAMA…

Shiny

Shiny,

So I got one..and I get to keep it..no high fives (well actually this one is in addition to high fives). Thats right folks…I got a World Cup Medal….and this one is in the points race. So for all the “gang” out there. And you know who you are. FRIG RIGHTS.

The story is this…and it is a bit interesting. So after all that time talking about “how I am in a better place” and “i like learning” I did in my last blog. The world took me aside and said listen JR you ain’t seen nothing yet.

At about 11:30 am yesterday I started getting blurry vision..well actual just sort of blind spot… it grew over the next half hour to a total lose of my peripherals by about 12:00…then just like that, the tunnel vision disappeared and was replaced by a head ache the likes of which I seldom have experienced. I guess this is one of those crazy migrain things people are always talking about. Frightening experience actually. I was about 2 seconds from pulling the plug on the qualification and I thought well lets get to the track and warm up. I am sure this thing may be caused by all the crazy environmental factors we are dealing with over here…like smog, poop smell, strange foods…etc etc.

So I get there and warm up and Tanya does some work on my neck to help alleviate the pain a little and it works a bit. I get through in the qualification but man my head…just throbbing at the end of it.

I have about a 2 hour turn around till the final so I go back and do my best to rest. the pain slowly continues to subside. When the final starts my head is just hurtting a little and my legs feel pretty good.

I take my time in the beginning and just pick up as many cheap points as I can. Half way through this has me in the running so I decided to start earning my pay check. Chris Newton (GBR) has already put up a pretty decent spread by this point but the silver is between myself and a few other riders. One in particular has the same sprint strength as me and so we have a few barn burners with bike throws. It was awsome. Back and forth and down to the last sprint for the silver medal…

I was just happy to be racing this race near the top…and giving me a chance to try and have a go again. Scratch final is tonight and here is hoping we can have another go…
Thanks for all the messages of support. I will post a you tube video interview we did after I get back…I would do it here but when I load youtube it is all in Chinese :S

And So we RACE

On the evening of yet another points race I decided to bring you all a musing before I fall asleep. I am not sure what to write about this time…It is just business as usual I guess different form I guess, different hotel, hmmm.

I thought I would more nostalgic about being back at the Olympic venue. Coming from the airport I was really jacked when I saw the Olympic symbol again but other than that nothing huge. It is like a world cup…but I am relaxed. I hope I can race like a seasoned pro tomorrow. I certainly am starting to feel like it. Just happy to have a new opportunity to race. Try some new tricks, maybe use some old ones better. I know there is still lots to learn for me. Don’t get me wrong…I just feel like I am in a better head space to learn it. Nothing really distracts me from the racing anymore…at least not as easily as things used to. In Cali and now here I am just wanting to race…not cause I think I am flying or cause I think I will get my best result. But just because to me that is the most interesting thing going on here. The opportunity to race and try new things out. I am starting to get a training/racing data base now. So I can compare things…I think this is when you start making real progress. I have things that have worked and things that haven’t now. I don’t feel like I will be floundering out there, I feel like I am starting to get to a place where what I do will be quantifiable information I can use to improve my riding, training and preparation. All because I have a back drop of experience to compare it against. I feel like I might be in my first year of cycling university. I made it through high school…now I am in a position were I have the tools to start learning the really neat stuff about the sport. I am not scrambling like I have been for the last 4 years just to get there. Now I can take time and try things, gears and strategies. How exciting. Well I think so at least.

Back to Beijing

I am here in the airport doing an update on the “new look” page. It is still in the works but I think it is coming along well. I have really not done any work on it yet. It has all be a result of my good buddy Kevin Field down at 7th Groove.

So I came to the airport to day looking at an 11 hour economy flight to this next world cup. I love that it was direct from Vancouver. That always makes it nicer…at check in I decided to ask if I could use my AIR CANADA up grade certificates for my AIR CHINA flight. Ridiculousness I know but when the flights are this long you are willing to try anything.

“no we don’t take thouse.” Said the lady at the desk…big shocker…so I was ready to pony up the bucks for the bike and she took a look at my Air Canada elite card and then she says. Oh but you are a GOLD member so I can just upgrade you…we have the space….

WHAAAAA…serious…sweet
I was haveing a lot of talk on my last trip about how the perks of GOLD cards are not all they are cracked up to be. But just when you are about to loose faith you get something sweet like this. So here is hoping the flight goes well. I will try to do some updateing from china…maybe some POST Olympic pictures to see if the air has degraded back to its bad levels.

I will write an update

Happy new year to all first off.

I am training in warm weather for the first time since I was in columbia. Riding a bike that is moving for the first time in a while. It has been nice to do. We have also had track time every day here in LA and it has also been good. Today was the hardest day of training I have had in a few years I would. I WAS CRACKED. These young guys are riding well and I am the beneficiary of the young gys trying to kick the but of the aged professional. Man I was hoping I would be a young Gun for a bit longer but the coin has flipped. I thought I worked hard as a young guy to beat the more senior members up. But I think my urge to work hard is higher now than it was then. That is promising. We have 3 more days of training the back home for a couple days before I head to china for the 2nd WC.
I am Still getting congrats and support for my Fist world Cup win so thank you very much.
I leave you with this blast from the past photo. From my first year riding. enjoy and please comment if you like.

Honest I did…

I just got back from columbia…and the greatest thing. I WON a World Cup. I don’t like to blow my own horn but this particular win…is worth talking about.
You may search the cycling websites across the net and likely not find a picture or mention? But that is my style..when ever I do well I seem to be wearing an invisible cape. Get no love.
AND got no medal…heard no anthem and didn’t get to stand on the podium…really makes you reflect on why you ride the bike…and you know I think it is a good thing to not be absorbed in others cheering your victory…it was nice to just reflect on it myself.

Here is how it went down.

I sat back early in the race to watch who was antsy and willing to put in work early. The Spanish rider, British rider and myself were all tail gunning just letting things unfold. Then about 15 or 20 laps in Rob Hayles (brit) went on the attack, the spanish followed and I did the same. The group grew to about 6 or 8 and we took a lap. As we arrived at the group the spanish rider and I rode straight through again. we rode it up to half a lap and were making good progress when !!BOOOM!! my back tire blew out in the back straight. I get to play rodeo cowboy for about 80 m then fall on my but. Tanya makes a rear wheel change in 4 laps… Great…I am back in. and at this time 3 others have joined the spanish rider. The thing is these other guys assume I am lapped I jump in and we get around again. Then as the race is winding down I take an attack at about 12 to go. None of them come with? The all think I am down not up. The officials are all indicating I am wining. The announcers do the same. HMMM strange decision. As the race winds down I hold off the group and take my win. The protests take about 2 hours and I find out I officially win while in doping control. The biggest win of my life celebrated by peeing into a cup. Oh well guess if I wanna hear the anthem I will just have to do it again.

Colombia Day 1 and 2

Here I am back to exotic travels and racing and I find myself wanting to write about something different I guess. I am usually on here writing about Videos I have just made or photos I have just taken. So far this trip I have only really wanted to do a couple of things. It has been nice to get back to the stress free routine of racing at an event. EAT, RIDE, Watch a Movie, RIDE EAT SLEEP. Or at least some variation on that theme. It is good to be back with the buds I have made over the years racing.

But I guess the novelty of travel has worn off a bit. The hotel room is the same. The feel is just the same I guess. On the bright side I look forward to training and racing very much. I was riding around the track today behind a terrible 125 motocross bike. Taking in the rich fumes of my lungs…and I was happy to be there. I felt like Ricky Bobby…”I WANNA GO FAST”. I guess it has been a bit a revelation for me. I actually love my JOB. I wanna go out and race and go home. I am not really feeling like the travel is a distraction as much anymore. I hope it leads to better racing. I think it is the first time I have been on a trip and I have known 100% that the thing I am looking forward to the most is the bikin’.

It also feels good to miss home on such a short trip. All the time I spent away last year it seemed like away was the norm. I like to race and I like to be home. Being away is almost a little bit of a draw back now. I still like seeing new places doing these trips. It is just that I like bring home more. But I sure like riding my bike. I don’t know if it is strange to come to this realization this far into my riding carrier. But it is a realization that sits well. It is nice to come to the knowledge, hold the knowledge, or have the understanding in your gut that at the end of the day you do your job because you love your job. In cycling with all the travel and tales of low wages and few fans in odd, somewhat strange locals, that these distractions are not why you do it. I think I may have just passed the point in a cyclist carrier were every on of us can either say “I have better things to do” or “I WANNA GO FAST”

I guess I really am a Cyclist…at least for today