I feel all grown up now.

This past weekend I took part in the GGG (Guys Golf and Games) weekend. After a night of Gluttony, Games and Groaning, getting not nearly enough sleep, and eating a 'hearty' breakfast, I found myself playing golf with a few friends and my father. While walking down one of the longer holes (8th possibly), my dad reminded me of the conversation we had had a year earlier.

I was finishing up school, working at the bike shop, getting used to being a father myself after 1 1/2 years, trying to be a good husband (and succeeding sometimes) etc. I had been working at the shop for a while, and was really enjoying the work. I got to fix bikes (which I really enjoy), I helped people find a bike they would enjoy riding, train other mechanics, and do some administration work for the shop too. I was enjoying it so much that I was talking with the owner of the business about buying it from him. Obviously not a small decision.

We were talking of the pros and cons of that route. Why I enjoyed it, what else I might enjoy, what else I might not enjoy. It was a good walk in the park (something we used to do, usually when I was in trouble for something).

Fast forward a year, and things have changed a touch. Abby is now 2 1/2 ish, Natalie is now 2 months old, I have been at a new job for 5 1/2 months or so (decided there was just too much risk, with not enough reward at the bike shop), I finished the classes I needed for my degree thingy and have been even more involved in the scout/youth program I help with.

And here I am, on my very first business trip. I came here to Montreal for some training on reviewing the pricing in our database and making the needed corrections (there are tens of thousands of parts that need to be verified) I got to meet some of the people I talk with, but never knew a face. Staying in a fancy hotel (The Wyndham), keeping receipts to submit as expenses, and buying a gift for Abby.

Now, I'm waiting at the airport. I talked with Jess and Abby earlier. I got my first "love you" from her as she passed the phone back to mom. Too bad I'll be waiting longer than I expected.

I'm waiting for my first delayed flight.

Eddie Merckx TT

Had a blast at this last race for the season (unless I get a chance to try some cyclocross). The E. Merckx Time Trial race is like the usual time trial, (start at 1 minute intervals, racing against the clock) but different as they give out time penalties for some of the modern aerodynamic bike components such as aero bars (which put the rider in a more aerodynamic position), deep section wheels (more aerodynamic than regular wheels), and those funky aero helmets.

Riders were awarded a time for a vintage wool jersey. I haven't acquired any of the aforementioned parts/accessories, so my time was what it was.



Since I've been racing in the lowest category, and was the first to register, I started first (the slower riders are started first in order to have everyone finish closer together). It was interesting having someone hold my bike from behind so I could be ready to go as soon as the whistle blew (or in this case the starter said.... 3,2,1, go).

Time Trials are a bit different as you really need to know your limits and be able to pace yourself. If you go too hard off the bat, you'll blow up early in the race, if you go to easy, you'll have missed out on valuable seconds. Out of the gates, I found myself going much harder than I should, so I slowed a bit, and got into a good rhythm. Just fast enough to hurt a bit. I continued this rhythm, while staying as aerodynamic as possible (changing position on the bike can save considerable amounts of energy). This continued until 1/2 way through the second lap of birds hill park. This is where the suffering began. I was hitting a bit of a wall. My legs were burning, my lungs were working very hard, and if I had a heart rate monitor it would probably have been beeping madly at me.

After cresting a bit of a hill, I slowed a bit and tried to recover on the downhill while still keeping my speed up. It worked.... a bit. Then I just had to push harder for the last 4km or so.
It hurt a lot. Legs were starting to feel like Jello, Lungs working overtime, heart getting ready to explode. I must have been going fast......


I tried to get a hold of the photographer that was at the race that night, but no luck yet. So here's a picture I took of another racer after I finished.

Race report X2

Well, I've been a touch busy lately and have been neglecting my blog of cycling escapades.
To catch up, we had our second child (July 17th at 2:22 a.m.), another beautiful girl. Mom was a machine in the hospital. Natalie Ann Smith has been a great little baby, and Abby has been an amazing big sister.

A few weeks ago was the 5th race for the Olympia Wednesday Night MTB race series. Weather leading up to the race were... how do you say.... wet. The sun came out and dried up some of the track. I went out to the race, and they shortened the course taking out the really rooty sections (very slippery when wet) and some areas where there was just too much standing water. So it was short laps. I was feeling great at the start, and right from the whistle I got away from my group and never looked back. 2 laps later, I took the win. 3rd in a row. This clinched the series for me as it is based on the points accumulated on your best 4 races (3rd, 1st, 1st, 1st for me). I also had my personal photographer at the race (thanks Dad), and cheering section (mom and sister). Jess decided to stay home.

Shortly after finishing, big, dark, ugly clouds started to roll in. I packed up the bike and started home. It was quite a downpour.





Race # 6
To start off with excuses... I was coming off a week of not really having an appetite for... well, any food so my energy was probably a bit on the low side. I hadn't ridden much at all since the last race (I think I was on the road once), since I finished my exam Monday. So, going into it, I wasn't feeling terrific. I did a warm up lap and was having troubles finding a nice rhythm through the technical sections. Jess, Abby and Natalie came with me to the race and Grandma came to help out too (thank you!).
I lined up at the start, and just wasn't feeling great. So, I just started at the back (sometimes if I follow people for a bit, I get into a groove.... that didn't happen). I passed a couple of the slower riders and was keeping up with the others in my category. I passed one of the other riders while going through a very muddy section (he tried to ride it, I just hopped off and ran through).
That didn't last too long though. I was hitting trees with my shoulders, over steering and hitting the brakes more than I should have. He caught back up to me, so I pulled aside to let him go by and try to catch the others ahead of me (part of MTB racing is yielding to faster riders even if you're racing against them). He was soon out of sight.
After getting out of the technical sections, I turned it up and made up some time to only finish a minute back. I was just glad to be done and not be injured.

There was an award ceremony, where the winners of each category received a nice black hooded sweatshirt. I have a nice new sweater.

Next year, I'll be participating in the sport class (more competition, faster speeds, more laps and... more suffering). I had a great time this year and look foreward to it again.

There is a Time Trial coming up (road race where it's just you against the clock). I think I'm going to give it a try. Should be fun.

Race report

Well, Jess still hasn't squeezed the baby out yet, so we went to the race tonight. She wanted to come watch me race, so we brought Abby too.
It was a little hectic getting out to the park on time, I left work shortly after 4:00, and a couple of minutes into my ride home..... BANG! I had a blow-out, rear tire. So I fixed it quick, and continued to Lifesport to pick up my new tires. So, when I got there, I tried to top off the pressure in my tire, and tore the valve off. Oops. More time needed to fix that. Strapped the tires onto my backpack, and went home to a wife who was starting to wonder where the heck I was.

A quick dinner, (mmm.... Ludine's Chicken and Potato Salad) throw the bike stuff in the car and off to the races we go! Traffic was heavy due to Folk Fest at Birds hill, but we still got there with plenty of time to register and get the bike thrown together and throw the new tires on (http://www.geax.com/vedit/pagina.asp~pagina~2316 whick turned out to be some fantastic tires. They felt just as fast as my previous ones, but had more grip and were very light too).

Then, Jess noticed another racer getting ready, that was wearing a jersey I didn't expect to see in Winnipeg. It was for "Hub Cycle" which is a bike shop in Truro, NS (where my dad grew up). I went over and said I thought I was the only one in Winnipeg with that Jersey. Turns out he was on a cross-country trip with his family and he's doing a few races on the way. Seems like a nice kid.

Well, on to the race.
Start:
Right off the bat, I got in front of the people in my class, and stayed in front. Passing people throughout the race. My favorite pass was on a sand hill, 2 people in front of me went down (very gently in the sand), I hopped off the bike and ran it up the hill (passing another on the hill), and hopping back on in one nice smooth motion without stopping, it felt great. That's where I started to pull away more from my group.

To make the rest short. I won by a minute and a half with a time of 36:35 for 2 laps.

Picture of me after lap 1.

Abby pointing at something:

Next race is July 29th.

another cold...

Seems like I've had more colds than ever before this year. I came down with something again a couple of days ago. Lungs this time it seems. I wanted to go for a nice long ride today, but it started to rain a bit and I decided against it. Now it's sunny again so I might head out to get some pictures printed.
I was fooling around with photoshop a bit with some recent pictures. Here's the results.

Abby at the park, on her favorite slide (A park that I built! along with other friends/family members). It's a compilation of a few shots...


And this one of Ben (nephew) pitching.



I might head out in a bit for a short ride to get my legs moving, it has been a few days.
Next MTB race is Wednesday at 7:00pm. But, I may have something else to attend to...

I'm a winner

Just thought I'd post a report from my MTB race this past Wednesday.

Started off as a beautiful hot day, got to the park (bird's hill) and there was a gentle breeze with plenty of sunshine.

There were more racers there than at my previous race, so that was cool. I recognized a few and said hi, exchanged pleasantries and wished each other good luck (while secretly wanting to crush them).

I decided to go and do a warm up lap and found myself holding back, not trusting the bike or myself. I slowly got through the lap and got back to the start area. Upon getting back, I noticed some dark clouds starting to roll in... not good. slippery roots are not fun.

Racing started, I was in the 4th group of riders to start (fastest start first), and right off the bat, I forgot about holding back and was just concentrating on keeping my speed up and smooth corners. First lap went off without any mishaps, passed a few guys, one guy went down in front of me and ended up pulling out after the first lap.

I was following one guy who was cruising pretty good until he clipped a pedal on a rock and broke it (there were some nice sparks from that one). He eventually pulled off to the side and let me by because he was having troubles with that pedal. So off I went.

The rain started falling shortly into the 2nd lap making some nice slippery mud and roots, making my tire choice for the race a bad one (relatively smooth for the fast sections). In the "root cellar" I ended up going down again, on the same knee, but it was a smooth landing this time and after a quick check to make sure I hadn't opened it up again, I was running through the rest of the section with my bike. I hopped on and kept going, I passed a couple more people from a different group and crossed the finish line.

I thought there was one other person from my group up the trail from me, but after checking the results yesterday, it turns out I won my class (which is where all the new people race, so I beat all the noobs).

The organizers supplied some hot dogs and marshmallows after the race and we all enjoyed them in the rain.

Just after getting my bike loaded back onto the car, the downpour hit and by the time I was home, I had a clean bike.

Another fun night of racing. Next race is July 8th.

Birds Hill ride

I've been starting to feel kinda lethargic since I banged my knee up last Wednesday at the MTB race, so I decided it was time to get back on the bike and see how my knee would do. It had been feeling pretty good the last couple of days. So, this morning I got up, got my bike ready, had a delicious waffle for breakfast (thanks Jess), and hit the road.
Weather forecasts were for sun all day and a high of ~20 deg, beautiful riding weather. However as I was leaving the driveway I looked west and saw quite a dark cloud. hmmm.... better ride faster. Off to Birds Hill park we go!
My knee felt pretty good the entire ride, no pain, just a slight discomfort on every pedal stroke. I hadn't ridden to birds hill before so this was a new trip for me, the roads were pretty good for the most part, but there were a lot of sections of pretty rough pavement. Nothing I that I couldn't handle though.
Time from our house to the park was just over an hour (1:01), once there, I did a lap of the park where there were a bunch of triathlon folks riding, and went home.
The roads on the way home seemed to be smoother than on the way out for the most part. and I was able to finish the 74.5km ride in 2h35min. It was good, I think I'll do it again.