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.

Wattage cottage

Well today was the TT and it was a pain train for sure. It was pissing…ahh now this is the beauce I remember from 2005. It was raining hard enough at one point it actually hurt. It was awsome…no joke I actually enjoyed it…quite epic…hard and crazy. In the end I was able to pull out a 3rd place which I was more than happy with…it was what I thought I could do if I had a good ride… and I did…. so perfect…Svien ended up second and Ryder Hesjdal rode away with the jersey…but we all had good rides and that is how it shakes out…check out the pic…Rocky as a cyclist no? I Coulda been a contenda…

DON’T FRIG IT UP

Well if the Pan American Points race was being run on festivase rules I would have won by a land slide. I for sure had the best feats of strength…unfortunately that is not how these things work…so let me break it down for you.

The race started off well…In the first few laps I was away in break with some strong contenders…The bell rang, I won the first sprint with ease. We continued our pursuit of the hind end of the field. The bell rang again…I sat on the back of the group of 5…with a tone of legs to sprint with…but it was early in the race and if I started wining sprint after sprint the group might just sit up and we wouldn’t get the lap…I needed that lap. We got the lap shortly after…the rest of the race was aggressive and blur. I tried my best to keep track of who was who…and kept scoring big points whenever they where available. I had two things working against me…1 I was the only Canadian in the race..no help… no deco…if the Canadian guy went they all knew I had lapped the field so there was no hesitation no check. I on the other hand was working with nothing but decoys everywhere. In the end I just couldn’t keep track of them all.

With no board and exact idea where I stood all I could do was listen for my name in the Spanish garbled sound…I was in the “top 4 contenders” but was not sure…all I knew is it was close but with who I couldn’t say. And in the end I was tied…for 3rd with the Mexican…but didn’t know…and he did…took a flyer and finished just a head of me on the line…If only I had gone for that one sprint early on…I would have won it and had a silver medal…but that is racing…All I know is…if there are points…and can get them I will from now on…and deal with the repercussions later. EVERY time I have been in a points race and had a chance for early points and left them, I have regretted it. The points is a complicated and mature race…This is the best I have finished at this race in the points…but somehow it is still an extreme disappointment…the potential for so much more existed…It takes such a long time to get these things right…but at least no I feel like I have the tools…and like a master carver…I just need to learn to use them…so all that really stands in my way is time spent carving…which in my case is racing my bike…still…soooo frustrated.

pursuit of…um..pain

Well I have been training for Points Race as many of you may know…as a result this is my face after a pursuit…for the love…that hurt. but the time was ok. Close to my PB’s and with not real work on it…but let me tell you I am opened up now…I just love this picture…I think Andrea pretty much got what pursuiting at this level is all about…the best part is every guy that does one will have this look in his eye at one point. Andrea is one of my roomates back in Burnaby…and let me tell you she is pretty good with the old camera as well…this could be a pain poster…or something…So yeah check out her other pictures on canadian cyclist or her web site.

Points race tomorrow…time to feel the burn.
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2 days to race start

Well after 12 hours of plane rides plane food and plane plain people…I am finally in Mallorca…not to shabby…did I mention that riding in europe is the best thing since sliced bread…no wait…its better than that…it is the best thing since fresh out of the oven home made sliced melty butter bread. I just needed to get that out. It has been “ok” weather her and honestly I want to move here and I have only been on 2 hours riding total…oh well enjoy the novelty.

The track is something else…if it is finished by Thursday…it is a totally constructions sight…and it won’t be done for the racing…the track itself is finished and the stands and “public” areas are done. But pretty much everything else is muttled with dry wall loosed wires and plumbing explosions. It is pretty crazy…if the sprinters can avoid the falling rebar everything should go off without a hitch.

Preparation has gone well and I think it will be a good ride for me…now it is just a matter of freshening up the legs. I am excited, stay tuned for Canadian Results and insider thoughts….

Up up and a way…

So here I am about 24 hours from departure to the world track championships. It feels pretty good to be representing Canada again. I know that there are all kinds of people that make this possible every year. I also know i will need even more support as I head into the next season. See this is competition is the RESET button. After this everything counts to the olympic games. I remember speaking with my coach just after the start of the athens games… and hearing “you better start thinking about Beijing”. and now it is almost on top of us.

So back to the Worlds. They are in Mallorca spain on a brand new track. Gina and I have been trying to optimize our situation day to day as we head into worlds. All little things but it feels like it is making the difference. She put up a cold emersion pool in the garage…it is made of a garbage can. I gotta say this has been a great off season in terms of training and general effectivness. Now it is just a matter of turning that into somthing. Wish me luck…if you haven;t allready…thanks to to all those who have allready written in with good luck wishes. When you have so much support you have to ride for the country…cause it feels like the country is really behind you.

Oh and the contest will end April 30th…if there are even any entries.

Off to Worlds…wish me luck.

Public Speaker Box

Part of being an athlete is the responsibility to young athletes, especially those in the community from which you hail. As I grew up I remember looking up to the inspirational leaders of sport in Canada. The athletes who spoke to me at various games growing up formed the athlete I have become today; the person I have become today.

So, imagine my excitement at the opportunity to become that athlete. To be given the opportunity to inspire other young athletes. I was given such an opportunity this week. While all my teammates went down in the blistering heat of the Cuba…I winged in north to Whitehorse, Yukon for the beginning of the Canada Winter Games. This will be the first Canada Games North of the 60th parallel, and the biggest Canada Winter Games ever. My home sport association asked me to be the inspirational speaker at the pep rally for the Yukon athletes. As I headed up for the games I had only the one event scheduled over the three days but I had a feeling I was in for more. After my two full days here I have done 2 radio interviews, one newspaper, one public speech, on dinner for all the sport ministers in Canada, one school appearance, and 2 team speaking engagements. What a thrust into a roll model position…and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my athletic career. I found myself facing the same questions I had as a young athlete and I realized I had answers for them. I felt like in some small way that I was helping these athletes, and to be doing it the northern setting that I had come from was very rewarding indeed. I hope I can continue on with this sort of work. Sport is first and for most about community. This is how sport reaches and improves community, and improves the lives of everyone it touches. I would like to thank sport Yukon for trusting me with the minds of there young talent. Good luck at the games.

HERE is a link to the an artical on my speech.

Christmas in JANUARY

So, I have most recently acquired the coolest and most swankadelic stuff in the last 3 weeks…some of it you may have seen already…some you may not have. Anyway these things are sure to raise my stature among the monocle wearing, ear waxed mustache, “hum hum” members of society. So check out these newfound symbols of stature with which I am much pleased.

1. Medium National Champs skin suit.

- This item was first seen at the LA world cup but let me explain some of the more exciting features…as you can see on the back is the word Bell…this of course is meant as a commissarial message. In the points race this is to encourage the officials to give me the bell each time I come around…unfortunately it only seems to work about 10% of the time…I have my best font scientists working on improving this feature but at the moment we seem to be lacking the impact we are looking for.
-It may appear to be read but don’t be fooled this is a hyper colour skin suit…for some reason it turns pink when you have it on…it all has to do with fit… I am not fit, or it doesn’t fit, or “that bloke looks FIT”… something like that…

2. The 1998 CIVIC HB, Deep PURPLE edition

- Now this was not so much a gift as a necessary evil. But it has to be, don’t it look mean. >:(
- As you can clearly see this bad boy is a tribute to the magical guitar riffs of DEEP PURPLE…I did not just go out an buy a purple car people…come on now.
- It has 90 shetlands under the hood…and maybe a few garden knombs, a wishing well, and one half eaten package of double mint gum from the era when the still put the twins in there commercials. Now I to will be able to pretend I am fast and or furious…
- Oh and it is a standard…now I know you are all thinking…”come now zebidia, your pre-technology attitudes have rendered you incapable of operating such an evil and devilish contraption.” Well this is just not true…I have been rolling this baby backwards and stalling it in traffic like no bodies businASS…or maybe it is no one is getting to business…cause I am “staled in the right hand lane”. I think global has assigned there traffic copter to follow me 24/7

3. The Cream DE LA…the cats PJs…the pantaloon restraint I have been searching for low these long years…

- This purchase and in fact the one above was made possible by the educational styling of one Groovy chick who shall remain nameless (secret identity and all that)…needless to say she has educated me on the manual transmission and the automatic purchasing power of E BAY.
- Yanick Morin this ones for you…my very own YUKON JACK belt buckle…who needs dog tags or bling bling when you can by a belt buckle like this from a guy who wore it 3 YEARS BEFORE I WAS BORN in Tennessee. Look at it and all its majesty…creepy borderline sourdough hermit on meditating quality among his woodland friends. It is the Yukon captured in a boo CLAY. No less then an explosion of waistband history, sure to draw the eyes of the world to the top of my pants as I roam through the crowded markets of the VAN city.

High society here I come…I am going to put on my skin suit…put on a belt and roll down to Glen Eagles Golf and Country club in my Purple Haze, Jimmy Hendrix edition C VAC. Maybe play a few rounds with Tony Parsons, he could get a lift in the G-1 traffic copter right?

Rethink your mental space…

“Success at any endevour, on any scale, is enlightenment…”
- IronMIike - From a man who understands the true meaning of success better than anyone I know.

Tipping Point

Well I think the beatings on friday got me fired up for the points on saturday…I came out pissed and tried to stamp some authority on a race that I feel holds my future on the track. I qualified 2nd in my heat behind olympic gold medalist Mikhail Ignatiev. A good start no prizes but it got the job done and got me feeling better about my riding anyway.

The final came around again in only a few hours so I went back to my casino/hotel and ate a casino/hotel sammy…that was gross and not ideal but fuel anyway.

In the final it was pinned from the gun. I scooped some points in the first sprint then a dangerous group rolled away and I wasn’t there..bad move…but with me and a few others working for almost 60 laps we held them at half a lap and slowly pulled them back. Then once we where a group I rolled away. And who else was with you ask, Mikhail Ignatiev. Dude was a wrecking ball…oh yeah and did I mention he rode the team pursuit and won only 5 min before…the rest of the race was just him putting the wreck on…and me hanging on…in the final sprint I had a good turn of speed but bad position…with smarter riding and similar legs I can improve on the 8th place finish I had here…but it was a good start to a world cup season that I hope is on an upward trend…coming in I didn’t feel like I would ride very well…and thel legs didn’t feel great here. I rode with alot of fight but in the end the job got done…more or less. Anyway I will be heading home to BC and hopefully get a solid 2 weeks in before I head to Moscow…If I can keep my form moving in this upward direction I think moscow will be a good race for me.

Thanks for all the support and emails over the past few days…it helped a lot.