Quick and Dirty Briefs…

SO I am sitting the Richmond Airport, using the free internet and preparing for my 36 hour trek across the globe for the world cup and commonwealth games. The last few weeks have been and interesting and exciting time for me…I met up with my team at a mini camp in Virginia. After a week at the monastery (video coming soon) with Christoph Herby (www.2skinnypros.com) , I spent the remainder of this last week setting up, training on, and tweaking my new team bikes… A Merlin and a Quintana Roo TT frame(Pictures also coming soon). It has been like Christmas, we even had the snow. As I set off I am feeling fantastically optimistic. The training has been great, and the idle time I have had here in the airport has really let me reflect and revel in the situation I find myself in at the moment in life in general. Maybe I am just elated at the fact that the wireless internet here in the airport is free…correct me if I am wrong but that just doesn’t happen in the real world does it? Good on the people of Richmond for providing something of convenience for no charge. It makes up for all the temperamental K-9’s that have nipped at my heels here…the rides have been beautiful…you just have to enjoy them at high speed in order to outrun the obviously athletic dogs who clearly make regular meals of local cyclists…they seemed to pursue me with extra vigor…I suppose they don’t see beefy track cyclist, all you can eat, meal on wheels too often. When Christoph and I where riding together it must have been like making a choice between celery and steak (or modified soy protein vegan burgers for you class 7 vegan cyclist out there, although I think Christoph does still cast a shadow??)
That’s all I have for now…but here are a few of the things here in Virginia that have put me in such a good mood. All the below come highly recommended…

Hedwig and the Angry Inch – Fantastic, Google It to find out more
Moxy Fruvous – Cunuckazation at its best
Chinese desserts and Cycling Trivia

Watch for more visually enticing hot and cold media coming soon….

Cali Video

This video is a quick glimpse of the most interesting visual features I was able to document on video in San Diego before the World Cup. No race footage, I had bigger things to worry about during the racing…like racing. The new video is called California Dreaming, and can be found on the videos and photos page. There are also several other new things hanging around the site…go and explore and you should be able to find them, it will be worth your coffee break.

Commonwealth Games

So, after many weeks of waiting and wondering, the CCA has finally decided my fate for the next few months. I have been sitting and stewing, training and hoping to hear if my partner on the track, Martin Gilbert, and I would be named to the Games Team. Today I got the news I have been waiting for. As I hoped and prayed over the past few months, we made the cut. After personal best rides in LA this past weekend I had done all I could to demonstrate my potential value to the team. Now that I have been selected I have so much motivation to make the most of my dwindling training time. Not that I wasn’t motivated before but, this will add to my allready boiling vat of anticipation for the season to come. Time to get down to business.

You can Find Details about the Games at www.melbourne2006.com.au.

Christmas Turkey Legs

So I have passed away the holidays with what I would consider a reasonable amount of holiday training. Got to spend time with my family, my new niece, and girlfriend. I got a new guitar that is slowly but surly becoming music to my ears, and got a few lungs full of air the way it was meant to be; cool, clean and invigorating.
Now I have gone through a temperature swing of about 20 Degrees. I arrived in California for a national team training camp to prepare for the upcoming LA world Cup. I was anxious to see how the last 8 weeks with my new coach had prepared me for the coming challenges. Well after a few days I am very excited about the upcoming season. I am enjoying the bike, and feeling more prepared than ever for the season ahead.
The season will be different for me as well. I look forward to working with a new team in 2006. Rite Aid presented by Snow Valley will be home for me this year. This team has a good reputation and history under the Snow Valley name and I look forward to a year of helping them build on their past success on the NRC stage. I will have more details and links as the year develops so stay tuned.
I have also completed a new video about the time I spent back home doing some motivational speaking and teaching with a grade 10 class in the Yukon. As soon as I find a fast connection it will be up on here. Stay tuned and watch for me and the rest of Team Canada at the upcoming World Cup in LA.

Cheating on the Bike…

The weather is turning and the bike is locked tightly into the confines of the computrainer. It seems like such a waste to see such a purely elegant machine strapped into that grotesque chastity belt. It is a beast of necessity, but it certainly reminds me every time I am on it that I am being robbed of the true pleasure of “the ride”. It suits the purpose but how does an avid cyclist fulfill himself when the pleasure of the ride is stolen away by the winds of winter…dare I seek comfort in the arms of a not so confined mistress???

This is the exact road I have traveled of late. Sure I still pay the appropriate attention to my other half. But I have lately begun to find solace in the company of another. As a cyclist I feel wrong just saying this, like I am out running around with a big scarlet letter on my chest. That is not so far from the truth. After all I have always said triathlon is the best way to ruin a perfectly good bike ride. But each step takes me closer to a precipice of hypocrisy. Running truly is a cruel mistress. I have returned now both times, heart racing, totally spent. But the euphoria soon wears off and the pain and aguish soon takes over. My legs feel as though they have been torn inside out. My biceps even got soar, what the heck; my biceps??? I mean I am no runner but how is that even physically possible?

The best thing about this whole experience is how it reminds me. It reminds me of why I am a cyclist. Why I am not a runner, or a tri-athlete. It reminds me that in spite of it all I love cycling above any other cruel training mistress that may be available. After all, cycling can usher me to more fantastic places. The bike is pure and exciting. After a ride I don’t feel as if my joints have been violated, turned inside out. I feel…at home on the bike.

Winter means we become acquainted with new activities, but ultimately I would argue that if you are a cyclist at heart, this time of year just refreshes your desire to be on the bike. So I will wait out the cold…hopefully I will be in a warmer climate or on an indoor track in the New Year. Check out my new web site…have a happy holiday.

One of the Originals…

V02 Max testing has been used for years, by all kinds of athletes, for all kinds of reasons…but what is really being tested?

Sure you come out of it with a bunch of numbers and a good indication of the kind of shape you are in for riding your bike…but for a cyclist, or for me anyway, there is a little more in it than that.

(150 Watts) you are testing yourself…on a lot of levels…your physiology is only a small part of it…your psychological strength is pushed, a lot more, a lot further…harder…this seems harder than it should be.

(200 Watts) it’s your ability to focus…un-focus…control…control your breathing…your breathing moving the valves of the alien apparatus that is perched on the top of your head…like one of those old hard shell Bell helmets (you know the ones with the flip up logo for added ventilation)…valves open, close…vents, chambers…your heart…wow!! your heart rate is low but you are breathing heavy….

(250 Watts) maybe you just need to relax…relax…I feel tight…just relax and breath… this isn’t so bad I guess…it’s sort of like racing only without the fun…racing is fun, especially when you can really move…move…move your legs…keep it moving.

(300Watts) It’s not like you’re moving…but you are pushing…it has the same kind of rhythm as the first few anxious minutes of a break…anxious minutes left…anxiety…my heart rate is coming up…this is getting a little tough…tough…you gotta be tough…it is only going to get worse…worse or….

(350 Watts) better…it’s a journey that makes you better…stronger…I feel stronger…stronger than last time…stronger than ever…this is taking forever…but you keep going…keep pushing and racing…to beat yourself…your toughest competition…

(400 Watts) It’s a test that pushes you to the pinnacle of your strength…it is a test because it tests you…what are you capable of…what are other people capable of…it’s like a race…and now its go time…it’s getting tough…winding up…up the tempo …

(450 Watts) this is the tempo…hard…hard to hold…hard to push…hard to pass…pass out…out cold…maybe I would rather be out in the numb cold…my hands are cold, numb like pins and needles…

(500 Watts) the cold…I start to feel like an anti-cold…hard to catch but everyone’s trying…this is it, this is for the racing…you get through this, you win the race…against your opponents…against yourself…this is the best part…the pain…the pain everyone else must be feeling…feeling only in the legs…none in the hands…it’s out of my hands…it’s all the head now…

(550) The head is hot and cold…harder…it’s harder…I am slowing down…I need to go faster…faster…faster… … … …this made me faster…more pain in the bank…to be saved up and redistributed to competitors later in the friendly exchange of gifts called a bike race.

One of the Originals…

V02 Max testing has been used for years, by all kinds of athletes, for all kinds of reasons…but what is really being tested?

Sure you come out of it with a bunch of numbers and a good indication of the kind of shape you are in for riding your bike…but for a cyclist, or for me anyway, there is a little more in it than that.

(150 Watts) you are testing yourself…on a lot of levels…your physiology is only a small part of it…your psychological strength is pushed, a lot more, a lot further…harder…this seems harder than it should be.

(200 Watts) it’s your ability to focus…un-focus…control…control your breathing…your breathing moving the valves of the alien apparatus that is perched on the top of your head…like one of those old hard shell Bell helmets (you know the ones with the flip up logo for added ventilation)…valves open, close…vents, chambers…your heart…wow!! your heart rate is low but you are breathing heavy….

(250 Watts) maybe you just need to relax…relax…I feel tight…just relax and breath… this isn’t so bad I guess…it’s sort of like racing only without the fun…racing is fun, especially when you can really move…move…move your legs…keep it moving.

(300Watts) It’s not like you’re moving…but you are pushing…it has the same kind of rhythm as the first few anxious minutes of a break…anxious minutes left…anxiety…my heart rate is coming up…this is getting a little tough…tough…you gotta be tough…it is only going to get worse…worse or….

(350 Watts) better…it’s a journey that makes you better…stronger…I feel stronger…stronger than last time…stronger than ever…this is taking forever…but you keep going…keep pushing and racing…to beat yourself…your toughest competition…

(400 Watts) It’s a test that pushes you to the pinnacle of your strength…it is a test because it tests you…what are you capable of…what are other people capable of…it’s like a race…and now its go time…it’s getting tough…winding up…up the tempo …

(450 Watts) this is the tempo…hard…hard to hold…hard to push…hard to pass…pass out…out cold…maybe I would rather be out in the numb cold…my hands are cold, numb like pins and needles…

(500 Watts) the cold…I start to feel like an anti-cold…hard to catch but everyone’s trying…this is it, this is for the racing…you get through this, you win the race…against your opponents…against yourself…this is the best part…the pain…the pain everyone else must be feeling…feeling only in the legs…none in the hands…it’s out of my hands…it’s all the head now…

(550) The head is hot and cold…harder…it’s harder…I am slowing down…I need to go faster…faster…faster… … … …this made me faster…more pain in the bank…to be saved up and redistributed to competitors later in the friendly exchange of gifts called a bike race.

socks…

high vs. low socks So I pulled the R 2.5 out of the box for the first time since our trip to San Fran. I feel like a new rider. I am living and training in Kingston for the fall so the first order of business was to find the routes and the riders. But before I even got on to the road I encountered a bit of a problem…
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