Finally did something Blog worthy.

Way too long since my last mis-adventure recap. Mostly due to no action packed activities in way too long. But the longish lay off has spiked an interest to get out of the house and get active.
Yesterday I went to Holiday Valley in Ellicottville, NY.


Packed up the Mazda and rolled out of here at 8:15. Ended up getting there at around 10:30 after a few stops along the way. I ended up getting an 8 hour lift ticket for $55 usd. Which turned out to be a great price for the number of runs I actually got in.
The conditions were great. Just below freezing and a good covering of fresher groomed powder on all the slopes, with only the odd icy spot. Most runs were open and in good shape. I was hitting some good little airs off a bunch of mounds from the snow makering. So it made for a fun day.
Here's a video I took:



It was a great day on the slopes but a little boring riding by myself all day long. But I figured I better go because I feel a touch of a cold coming on and I could ride my bike any other day.
That's it for now.
Happy New Year to All who might happen upon my page.

Extended Off season.

A great way to start the day. Cinnamon raisin bagel with PC Nutella and some Kicking Hourse Kick Ass fresh ground coffee in the press pot. Maybe it'll get me going.

So motivation in the Single Speeder camp has been real low now a days.
Leading to an extended break from the bike . I guess you could say.

Last week I rode to work a couple times. Total distance 20 km for the whole week.

This week I hit the rollers for a quick warm up then decided to head out to the canal path for a ride.
I jumped on the Kona and headed out on the streets to get over to the Rootbeer creek path up to Thorold. Unfortunately mother nature had other plans for my ride. The temp was around -6 and by the time I got the the Garden City arena my freewheel was starting to freeze on the free option. I guess the lack of maintenance after the Hespler Cx race had caught up to me. The pawls were freezing down and not engaging when I went to pedal. I barely made it home.
Lesson #1 of the new training season. "Bike maintenance is more important in bad weather." Now I see how good riding the fixie in the winter really is. I guess the flip flop hub is gonna get some use real soon.

Other than that things have been pretty SLACK around here. I did 10 sit ups the other day. And I watched a few core work out videos on youtube. So I'm at least thinking of working out. We will see what the coming weeks brings about as far as getting in shape for next year.

The reading of Chris Carmichaels "Time Crunched Cyclist" is going well. I can kinda identify with most of it so far. It sounds like the way I was training for last years CX season. Pretty good reading and learning. Planting the seeds for 2010.

Hespler Slogfest CX Fun!

So I made the trek out to Cambridge for the CX season ending race put on by the Hub racing team.
Figured it would be a fun way to remember the season and get some extra suffering in to get me through the winter months.

Rain was in the forecast, so I thought it would be a mud bath. But I was wrong. There was a ton of snow still left on the ground when I rolled in to the Hespler Arena about 5 minutes before the 11:00 race.
The rain and snow made for a good combination of mostly granular slush. Nice and heavy. Not the easiest stuff to ride through. Add that to a turn filled CX course and you get 1 long day.

It wasn't too bad to race in, just not all that fast through the deeper drifty sections. Plenty of opportunity to show off everyone's runnin' skills.

Got a few shots of the 1st race. Which was won by none other that Dan Dakin. A little sand baggin' action there. But not really because up until the last lap he was duking it out with another rider.

Got a good shot of Justin Henri with the holeshot.

But that didn't last too long. The course was too hard for him to hold everyone off. But he still looked pretty good for a few minutes there!

Later in the race, I was havin' fun firing a barrage of snow balls at most of the guys from the Niagara area. But I new I'd be gettin' the same treatment in the later race.

Here's a shot or Rob Watt on a little stroll.

I only did 1 warm up lap to see the whole course and figured I'd be better off warming up inside the arena. So I went in and found a large set of steps and did about 50 repeats up and down to get warmed up. It worked surprisingly well. I was pretty winded and producing a good sweat. All at the same time as I was checkin' out most of the hot Hockey Moms watching their sons playin' hockey. Not bad scenery!

I lined up at the back of the field for the 1:00 race. Or should I say 2nd row! There was only 8 Guys signed up for the late race. Oh well I was only there to have some fun and get some good experiences.
I was also wearing my Digi cam on my chest so I got footage of the whole race. But it will take me a few hours to find all the highlights and make a short film. So I'll post that at a later date.
I would say that the Single Speed didn't hold me back too much because I still had a good race and I managed to finish in 5th place, and won a prize. A pretty sweet Axiom multi tool and a seat post anti slip clamp by Chase products.

For a while there I was battling with Jeff Moote for the bottom step beside the podium. But I was riding smoother through the crap and managed to gap him pretty good and tough it out for the rest of the race.
I think I did 5+1/2 laps, which was just the right amount for me at this time of the year. But the low lap count tells me that the course was totally set up too hard for the conditions. I can't complain, as I still had fun sloggin' it out. And I didn't get lapped until about 3 minutes before the end of the race.

All in all another great day on the CX bike for me and all the other Die Hard CX riders. The real riders, not the wimpy cx riders The REAL RIDERS.

Sweet December Ride!

Went for my first training ride, of my new training year, Saturday afternoon.

Started out just mellow paced with no particular planned route. Just flyin' by the seat of my pants.

It was a great day for riding in December. Sun was shining and the temp was above freezing a little.

I rolled out of home at 2:00 heading south through down town. Ended up going down the dirty side of the 12 mile creek. Did the 1st part of Suzanne's trail. It was pretty sweet. Until I hit the nasty Ice sections. So I abandoned that trail and hit the double track over to the Glendale Bridge. Went and started Marv's trails. They were pretty frozen too, but I hit 1 or 2 spots that were just starting to thaw so I ended the trail ride on that side then went to the other side of the creek to head over to Hydro Hill direction. Took Lockheart drive out to the foot path up to Alphies trough. Streached a bit then put in my bestest ever climb up to the top of the escarpment. I made it about 3 yards short of making it up all the way. SWEET!

Anyways, I headed over to the fence line trail and thought it would be a good day for trail photos. So I took a few of my Kona.

Was tryin to get an action shot of me on the trail via the timer on the camera. But no luck. I need more practice. Found out takin' pics while riding is very time consuming. At least action shots.

So I continued riding. The legs felt alive after putting out a good effort up the big hill to Alfie's Trough. SO I decided to pick up the pace a bit. Besides my toes were starting to get a little cold. I ended up going under the 406 in the tunnel. Decided to snap a few pics of the rig again. Had fun crossing the ice in the tunnel. It's a good thing I only weigh 155 lbs. or I woulda broke through. The bike was actually about a foot off the ground in the tunnel.
Decided to make it a point of getting shots of my bikes in different places while on rides from now on.

Went past the Red Barn out to Allenburg Bridge and took the canal trail back to Thorold.

Did some intervals most of the way down to Lock 7. 20sX10s for about 7 minutes. It was good to open up the legs.

Saw a few boats and got a couple shots.


Then just high tailed it down the old canal path home.

All told about 40 km ride. Pretty sweet for December.

Early New Years Resolutions

Alas it is New Years Eve for me and my 2010 cycling year. The dawn of my training for next season is here.
Official training starts early afternoon, with a minimum 1 hour ride in the freezing cold that is upon the region. The purpose of the ride is to open up the legs and get the lungs working for Sunday's CX race in Cambridge. Only a fun race it will be, but I at least wanna be able to mix it up with the crowd and get some good chest mounted digi cam action to share.

Goals for the 2010 season will be to race more and to hit the podium more. Defined goals are not yet set but will be up and posted before the end of the regular calendar year.

Additional motivation will come from the addition of the R.A.C.E.R. program with the Short Hills Cycling Club, of which I plan on joining before the end of the year as well.

It should be interesting to see how things pan out with the club. A bit of a different slant in the program will come from me, seeing as I am the only full time Single Speeder on the team. Therefore having a different set of competitors to face.
I am not sure Single Speed is an easier category to race in and do well. Thus the early integration of my training program and plans for the new year.


With all my will power and determination I will be stepping up my cross training and actually doing exercises besides riding. I'm talkin' about the really boring ones like core work and fighting the forces of gravity whilst lifting ferrous materials (i.e. weights). Possibly even getting into the gym and participating in Brad Andersons Boot camp. Imagine that, actually using the free membership, to Premier Fitness that I got from Brad at the Spring 8 hour relay, racing with the Thorold Trail Hogs.

O! it's gonna be a killer year. And the reason I say that is because last year was Awesome for me and I really didn't start training in earnest until July 1st. And even then I only rode my bike lots and stuck to a mini poriodization training plan.

I won' bore anyone any longer with my thoughts and dreams. But I will say that another one of my resolutions is to take more pictures of all the mayhem and misadventures I will be sure to encounter in the coming months while spinning around.

Let's Roll!

So tis' the season to rest and recover from a good season of cx racing and training.

I haven't done much work on the bike since before last weeks Subway CX. No desire what so ever. Pretty much just being lazy and bored with working out and suffering on the bike.

About the only bike related enthusiasm for riding is getting the hang of the rollers. That in itself is pretty fun and challenging. Way better than a trainer. You actually have to concentrate to ride and get some work in.

The initial ride on the rollers was on Monday. I put the road tires on my old track wheels and put them on my Specialized Tri-cross Single cross (complete with mud from last race lap). That's right riding the Fixie on the rollers. Not a big deal though, actually probably easier than riding with a freewheel. Since all I have to do to stop the wheels from turning is stop pedaling. No need to hit the brakes in an emergency. I haven't been Bucked off yet, like you'd get on the road when you stop pedaling a fixed gear bike. It must be the momentum you have going on the road that gets converted right through the pedals into your legs that kicks you up and out of control. It appears to be a good set up for putting in some mileage when the weather is shitte out. The only thing is being able to up the resistance on the fly is not possible. I have to get off and turn the mag resistance up. I might end up just putting a larger chain ring on to get the desired resistance for long endurance rides on the rollers.

So the 1st time up I had a counter on one side and my computer chair on the other. I rolled off the sides a couple times. But didn't go down. It took me about 10 minutes to be able to ride without holding the counter. After getting the hang of balancing with my body and knees, I eventually took my helmet off. :-) Total of about 30 minutes ride and I started to get pretty hot and the legs were feeling the after affects from the Subway Cx race. So I called it a night.

On Tuesday I figured I'd do a workout and get better with the rollers. This time I put them next to my comp and loaded Poker Stars and signed up for a free roll. Thinking I'd be able to play and ride. Not so! It took too much effort to hit the fold and bet tabs when my turn came up. So I ended up just going all in and busting out in 8567th place out of 11000.
It's much easier to watch some freeride videos and ride the rollers. I got in a few Tabata intervals and called it a night. B.T.W. the large fan I set up helped keep me from sweating my ass off.

In the coming days I'll be relaxing and compiling some bike cam action footage for some extended roller rides throughout the winter.

I also picked up Chris Carmichael's book"Time Crunched Cyclist". It will be my preferred reading material in the coming week of resting and preparing for training for the 2010 cycling season. Which I plan on starting with the fun race Hespler Grand Prix cx race in Cambridge.

That's all for now.

Subway Cx race report.

Finally a moment to share my experiences from the Southern Ontario CX series Season finale.

Another great day in November for a cx race.
I finally rolled out of St.Catharines @ 9:30. Made it to the venue just before the end of the 10 am race.
One minor hitch though. In my usual tradition of waiting to pack for the race in the 15 minutes before I hit the road, I got all the extra paraphernalia, but for got my shoes. I didn't realize my mistake until I was getting off the Gardner Expressway. DOH! Oh well I figured I'd hopefully find some shoes I could borrow, since all the regulars of the cx race scene are such great people, and uber helpful. It turns out I borrowed Brandon Etzl's shoes since he was racing at 11:30. But my warm up laps were lacking in intensity with my Ethnies on Egg Beaters.

The race course was a real good track. Plenty of corners in a maze of tape right close to the spectator area and finish line. The turf and trails were a little slick, so it kept you honest in the tight 180 corners. There was mud on a few climbs that were there and it made you work to stay hooked up and ascending. The only draw back was the parking was pretty far from the course, but just a minor detail.

So when I got there I got ready in my Crazy CX Fanatic out fit. Sliver USA bell bottomed jumpsuit. Full faced Riddler mask and ski goggles. Completed with some big foam spikes on a helmet. I also made a cape, but I couldn't find it at first. It was quite the get up. I was ready for some HECKLING!

I went over and registered and searched for some shoes and did a little course recon. I could barely breath with the mask on so I just hung out and waited for the 11:30 race to start.

Here are a few pics I took of the race. But I didn't zoom in close enough on most of them since I was wearing the mask.




So after the race I went put on my regular riding clothes and did a little warm up on the road. I then got the shoes from Brandon and did a harder warm up lap. The last rip to the car I found my cape, put it on and and went to the start line for 1:00 along with the other 17 m1's and the Senior Men.

I lined up in the second row, since I knew I was under powered for the faster class. And figured I'd just get passed on the start road sprint any ways.
So the whistle went and we were off. I actually had a great start and turned off the road in 4th wheel. It was pretty confidence inspiring to see that I had some power on my SS Kona. But it was all to be smashed with each pass coming out of a bunch of corners and all through the 1st lap.
After the lap I ended up in about 15th place with a few chasers close behind.
I went as hard the whole time. No time for resting when you are a single speeder racing geared riders. I had to push for as long as I could and hope everyone in front of me blew up or had a mechanical.
The cool part of the tape maze, that you went through it twice on different parts of the lap. Not the same side of the tape each time but still in the same grassy area. It made it a little confusing, so ya had to concentrate on the line and not the tape. And I could cheer on my faster friends.
I was having a good race, as far as staying up in the corners and getting up the climbs. The long flat sections took their toll on me though.
The steep up at the top of the walkers path was tricky. My 1st couple times through I had to dismount. But it was my goal to ride it. And I finally did on the 3rd lap after I was fully warmed up. And maybe a couple times after that.
In the last 1/2 of the race I started to reel a couple guys in and pass. I only got passed by one guy at about the 4th lap. And there was a couple mechanicals too.
I think I got lapped by the leaders of the Senior race, on the 6th. But I am not too sure because usually my ability to count is greatly diminished whilst in the pain cave. As I was about to get passed though, I put an all out effort into the section through the pines and double track behind the finish. I think the leader Erik Box was pushing me a bit and getting a little bit of a pull from me, as he had a gap on 2nd place Jarrod Stafford, after I let him pass. Man it was pretty hairy going that fast. I was on the edge of wiping out the whole time. After they passed I knew I would be doing 1 less lap than them, so it wasn't that hard to swallow.

Throughout the race I was getting lots of encouragement from the fans because I was the only one with a cape. I also got the Heckling from Ted Ingram on the muddy climb. The first few times through I just concentrated on the hill and the cheers from the spectators. But later I answered Teddy's chants of "GEAR DOWN" over and over again, with "I don't need no stinking gears" & "ONE GEAR NO FEAR". It was fun.

At the finish line I had another good idea for a crowd pleasing finish. I ended up doing a Superman ride on my saddle over the line. It went well with my new cape.

So I finished the race in 7 laps 1:00:16 and 13th place out of 17 riders. Not too bad considering I am the newest kid in the master 1 cat. I would have been top 3 in the M2 cat.

After wards we went over to the Dark horse pub for some eats and socializing. It was a good finale to the official Southern Ontario CX season.

In this race I learned that I am not too far back from doing well in the M1 next year. I just have to double my training and it will be a good year.

Next race will be Dec 13 in Hespler. And it will just be a fun race with only 2 starts and more mixing of categories. Hopefully there will be snow and real CX conditions.

So ends another adventure of a Single Single Speeder!

Max VO2 intervals today. With the Jay Cam.

Another day on the cx rig for me.
I went to my mini cx park to do some max VO2 intervals. Trying to ready my body for the rigors of cx racing. Hard accelerating out of corners and tight 180 degree turns. A little climbing involved and the run up practice is always needed.

I was a little short on time, so I only ended up doing 2X5min intervals. Not the best work out but better than nothing.
Part of the reason for the shortened time window was because I stopped by one of the downtown LBS for some road tubes to put on a bike for the rollers.

Anyways I got to the park and did 1 interval whilst filming with the "Jay Cam" mounted on my chest again. This time I had another foam wedge it it to angle it up a bit. It turns out it was aimed too high so I didn't get much of the terrain in the shot. So I readjusted the straps and did interval #2. It was a pretty good angle but there is lots of sway from side to side when I am out of the saddle crankin' hard. It gives a good shot of my hands on the hoods and the bike leaning in the turns.
I did a little commentary of my lap and a whole lot of heavy breathing.

Here is the video of the ride:


On the way home I zipped by the new site of Liberty Bikes. They were cleaning it up and filling a huge dumpster with drywall and rubbish from inside. I kept on riding until I spotted Boss Hogs Jimmy in front of the store. After a quick U turn, I went back to say "hey!".
It turns out there was a bunch of Short Hills Cycling Club riders helping Kurt out. Tom was there, Paul, and Brad. They all had dust masks on so that's why I didn't recognize them on the first pass.
I showed my mcgyver cam and did a little filming. In hind sight I should have done an impromptu interview with the White hat Kurt. But I was pressed for time to get home and head for work. Here's the footage:

Not very interesting stuff. But now ya know how to join a committee in the Short Hills Cycling club. They were workin' hard and getting dirty. But I had to go.

Next time I see anyone I'll go into reporter mode and have do an interview.

Tomorrow I have to work OT in the afternoon so I'll do some laps at Collegiate SS on the track after work. Pretty boring stuff but it should have me ready for the Subway CX race on Sunday at 1:00.
It must look funny seeing some dude going around with a big HID light strapped to my helmet in the middle of the night. 20s hardX10s restXrepeat 7X, 3minutes rest in between. Pretty easy to get a good work out in real quick, and increase my VO2 MAX.

New Technical Developments in the Single Speeder training camp!

Working afternoons shift this week, so ya think I be doing some good training in the daylight. Right?
WRONG! Staying awake in the wee hours or the night are not too good for training. Damn internet!

But anyways I got up early this morning to go and take my son to school, because I never get to see him on this shift.

The good thing about the internet though is the stuff I can learn and find on it. Like on Kijiji I found a set of Minora Magrollers/ with adjustable tension. $50. I went and picked them up this morning. (Technical development # 1.) They are in great shape, and are perfect for riding a single speed bike on, because I can use the tensioner mags it make it harder for me.
I tried riding my Tricross on them and it was fun. Almost falling a few times until I found out how to steer to the middle. The knobby cx tires didn't help much but I got the idea about riding the rollers anyway.

On monday after or while my last cx race video was uploading, I spent the time mcgyvering a new rig for my digi cam. I wanted something that was less shakey and a different POV. (development #2) Well I got it hooked up and was dying to try it out. I ended up patching together some velcro straps and a few other random straps. I put the camera in a little pouch with the case I made earlier and a wedge of foam. It feels great and it'll be pretty easy to smuggle into races and stuff.

So I went to my mini cx training park on Geneva street and did a few laps with the cam on. After my interval I almost passed out from pushing so hard, and I was probably dressed too warm. But anyway here is the footage. Mostly of my stem, because the angle needs to be wedged higher.



Now ya know what my stem is doing when I am riding!

This time I used Any Video Converter ( a free video converting program) to change the format from my Sony Cyber shot digi cam (mpeg) to WMV. format. Looks like a bigger screen for the watching.

Check Ya on tha flip side and Keep on rollin!

CSAJ CX race Tornoto, ON 11/22/09

Photo courtesy or Robin Watt
This Sunday I decided to upgrade and race with the M1 cat and the Senior/ Elite.
The trade off to getting my as kicked, was that I didn't have to get up at the crack of a Chickadee fart to get to the race and warm up for the early race. 1 pm is a great time to race at. Especially in November and when I have to bring my biggest fan (Owen).

So we hit the road from here at 10 am and got on the highway at 10:30, after buying a memory card for the digi cam I rigged up to go on my handle bars.

The drive to the venue, pretty much in the heart of Toronto, only took just over 1 hr. We got there and parked just as the 11:30 race was going off.

The course was in Riverdale park, right next to the Don Valley pkwy. It was a great track. But had alot of climbing. A little too much for my 42X18 SS gearing. But I was just out to have some fun.

Here is some of the footage I shot. It's a little shakey and the music is annoying but it gives you the idea of a CX race, and all the fun I had. You might wanna turn the sound down on your comp, as I didn't pick the best soundtrack for the 1st 1/2 of the video.
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I mounted my new Sony Cyber-Shot in a mcgyvered case on my handlebars. But it came a little loose during the race so I spent a lot of time holding it still and adjusting it a bit. The results are not bad. There's a few highlights near the end of the movie.

As far as the race went for me:
I let too much air out of my front tire on the starting line so I wasn't cornering the best after my 1st crash.(excuse #1)
I didn't do my regular pre race prep in the week leading up to it, and I only did 1 lap as a warm up, so I didn't have the engine or lungs for the upgrade. But I was just out to have fun and see how fast I'll have to be for next year.(excuse #2)
I had an alright start, but it was clear that these guys were much stronger than the regular M2 field I am used to racing with.
The big runup after the barrier kicked my arse, but I just kept grinding along. After the wipeout I was just trying to get back the spots I had lost.
It was a great course with plenty of opportunity to suffer.
The weather was great, as I was racing in my bibs and a short sleeve jersey, sans gloves.
The movie gives a better description than I could give.

After 1:02 and 8 laps, I ended up 19th out of 23 M1 racers. Not the best result. But it gives me a bar to shoot for next weekend at the Subway CX race in Toronto.

So ends another adventure of a single speeder. (-=

KB CX race part 3

So after the first all the confusion I started with missing the course. I still had a little lead up the rideable slope and over to the steep stuff. But once I started running I started to get real tired and it took me a bit to recover. So once up the big climb and onto the flatter part I started to get passed by a couple guys but I just kept grinding along the ski hill over until we hit the turn around and started descending the hill. I found I cornered better than the guys who had just passed and started to gap me, so I caught back up to them going into the flats in front of the Chalet. I either stayed with the fastest guys or passed the ones who didn't do the 180's too fast.
After the muddy 180 under the melting snow slope the guy in front of me washed out on a tight corner, RIGHT in front of me, and I had a dude right on my wheel. I almost hit his bike at the seat post. But I managed to stop in time and get my front wheel over his saddle and speed off, picking up a lost position.
I then passed another dude over the barriers, Which I seem to do every race.
By this time I had settled into a groove and was just trying to catch the rider in the white jersey a few seconds ahead. He'd pull away on the climbs but I'd catch him in the tight corners. I managed to draft off him down the road most of the time. Maybe even taking the odd pull. Around this time I passed a friend in the open race. It was Dan Dakin. He was raving about how I was a Beast! And cheering me along. Just after we passed Dan we hit the 180 at the end of the road, where I set up wide on the shoulder where the grass and leaves were. Bad idea to go wide! I hit a big pothole HARD! SO hard it pushed my rear brake hood down the drop, and making my rear brake stick on enough to slow me down and lose the guy I was chasing. I managed to ride into the pit and grab my Tricross Single cross for the last 2 laps. But now I had to catch the guy in front of me, and now he had a good gap. I think after hit the turn around on the hill I dropped the hammer and caught him and another before the series of downhill 180's before the flat 180's and barriers.
Going into the 4th lap in the sea of tape by the chalet, I finally caught the early starting Master rider #67. After the barriers in the 180's I asked him if he was racing Master or Open Mens? He confirmed he was a master 35+. So I asked him why he started with the open men? He made up some dumb excuse that he didn't realize it until about 10 seconds after they started and he didn't want to mess things up and cause an accident. Then he said not to tell the officials because he would do it himself. I said "it's all good. Because I'm passed you anyways." And I proceeded to drop him in a hurry.
For the rest of the race I was battling with a Blue and a white jersey riders. I had no Idea what position I was in. We were just hammering along and passing the back markers of the Open field.
On the second last lap after the hills, coming back to the chalet I spied the Red Bull Hotties standing beside the tape. I started hooting and waving trying to get their attention because I was ready for a hand up. They weren't ready for me when I skidded to a halt right in front of them. So it took a couple of seconds to grab a can of Red Bull from their pack. But I grabbed it and put it in my jersey pocket as I had to get over the barriers before I could open it. Immediately after the barriers I opened it up and started drinking it and riding along through all the 180 turns. Dan Dakin was behind me in the maze of tape and he was amazed that I was riding along and drinking at the same time. "Your a BEAST!"he kept yelling.
It was hard to ride and drink but I managed to drink most of it between corners. I almost blew through the tape a few times because I was only braking with my rear brake. Let me tell ya haw hard it is to breath after chugging a can of Red Bull. My mouth was full of sugary spit and I was having a hard time expelling it. It would stay attached to my mouth well after I had spit it out.
Back to the racing action, It was now the last lap. I didn't hear the bell, but the other two I was with were talking as if it was and I echoed I had 54 minutes on my watch. Probably not a good idea to let them know it was that late in the race, because now the white jersey guy was dropping the hammer on me and the other dude. After the climb he managed to gap us by about 10 seconds.Around this time I was about to get passed by Nathan Chown, the leader of the Open Mens cat.
Here's me suffering and getting reeled in by Nathan. Photo courtesy of Stephen Cheung.
So I was left to duke it out with the blue jersey guy. I passed him on the hill coming down to the flat turney section. And started to put a little space between us leading up to the finish. I was going as hard as I could, sprinting along. I thought I had my position all sewn up. I hit the area by the finish line and sat up before the line when the number caller called out my number"69". But at the very last second, I got swooped and jumped at the line by #64. Damn that sucked! Probably only by 1/2 a wheel. A pretty good lesson learned though. "Never stop until well after the finish line"

The final results were posted about 10 minutes after and I found I had finished in 4th place. Man it burned me up even more that I sat up at the line.

So we hung around the chalet for a bit and I ended up getting some swag and $10 for 4th place.


It was a great race that was well organized and a really good course set up by John Rhoden. There were a couple 180's that were a little too tight. But over all a great CX course, up there with the best of them. Here's evidence of my tape stretching abilities.
Over all a great day on the CX bike. Next year I'll be back for sure.

Next blog entry will be the Short Hills Cycling Club Chili ride/ Fart fest the following day. Can you say a real suffer fest for me!

KB race report part 2

Back to my KB CX race report.
The flat section in front of the Chalet at KB was filled with really tight 180 turns. Maybe about a dozen or so. Some of them were a little too tight, so there was alot of stretching the tape going on. Most of the corners had good traction, except for the couple over by the ski lifts and the melting snow for the rail jam. The barriers were right in front of the chalet for all to watch the action. From the last 180 on the flat there was a wide open section across the front of the chalet with a slight right curve to the finish line.

After a run up the hill on my practice lap, there was no need to do any more warming up. So I went to the car and switched to my race kit. The temp was up around 15 degrees or so. So all I had to wear was my bibs and a Short sleeve jersey.
I went into the lodge to jettison the liquids from me bladder and meandered over to the line at about 12:50. I think most everyone else was already there so I had to slip in near the back of the field. I think I managed to slide up the the 3rd row in our field of 17 master 35+ riders. The officials had already were just finishing the rules for the race so I was kinda going in the dark for what to look out for.
A quick shuffling of the start line into 2 separate categories, with the Open Mens field starting 1 min ahead of the masters. When the men went off I noticed a dude with a masters number going with them. But thought nothing of it untill later in the race.
So when the whistle went we were off! The start straight through the parking lot was pretty narrow, so I was just trying to pass if it was real safe. I figured I'd just wait until we got on the wide open road.
We were going at a good sprint down the road, and I was just trying to grab a wheel if I could. Hoping not to get dropped. By the end of the first straight I had worked my way up to 2nd or 3rd wheel. We hit the 180, and started back into the wind going slightly up hill. I was drafting about the 1st 3rd of the road. When the puller got tired I'd go around him. About 1/2 way down the road I found myself in the lead, with someone on my wheel. I didn't know who it was, but I was sure I wasn't about to pull anyone along. So I did my best to shake him. I started swerving right and left across the whole road. Even bunny hopping the odd pot hole along the way just to get rid of the wheel sucker. It turns out it was my local training buddy Shawn Conlon. I didn't know it was him. If I did I would have let him tag along.
SO I come off the road in the lead. We hit the hills now, and I knew it would be a grind for me. On the first lap I didn't get passed running up the slope because I still had lots of power and the adrenaline was flowing pretty good.
I think I led the rest of the lap and all the way back down the road again. By this time we started passing the back of the open mens cat. We blew by Jeff (Mid-Pack Rider) and Robin (Scrawny Cyclist). I was still leading coming off the road and around a big tree. Someone had knocked the tape down and I turned right into the non-course side of the tape. But I realized it wasn't the course real quick and put my arm under the tape and got back on course pretty easily. But it was pretty funny hearing all the confusion and a big ruckus behind me as there was about 6 riders in tow up until that point. Jeff said he passed a couple guys who were tied up in the tape.
Back to the hills again.

Dang I have to go to work now so I finish the race report in the morning.

Killer KB CX race report

I finally got some time to report about the Kissing Bridge CX race this past saturady.

It was a great day for racing. Especially since my race was starting at 1:00. It gave me plenty of time to sleep in and round up my gear for the race. A good change of pace from the usual 7 am for a 11:30 race

Mid-Pack Ridercame to pick me at around 10 am and it took a little work to get my bike rack strapped on his car. We stopped for coffee and hit the highway by 10:30. The 75 min drive went quick and we didn't get lost because of Jeff's GPS.

We found a parking spot and it immediately felt like it was gonna be a great day. Being the normal CX nut I am I started hooting and hollering because the the 11:00 race was going on and a couple local Lady riders were grinding away on the course. "Go Leslie Go", "Way to go Alley. You can do it" I hollered.The only crappy part was I forgot my cowbell at home.

So I grabbed my pit bike and went to drop it off and get registered. Almost had a small snag at the registration. I showed my OCA citizens permit but they almost didn't accept it and they were gonna charge me for a 1 day permit. But I got off with a warning. The best part of registering when I did, was I ended up with #69. Woot! Woot! 69! Registration guy says to me in a serious tone " make sure ya don't put it on upside down. because the timers will get mixed up". I mockingly started turning it upside down saying "like this?" But he still didn't get the fact that 69 upside down is still 69. =-)

So I went to get kitted up and do some warming up. First to get the blood moving Jeff and I went on to the course down the long open gravel road with a 180 about 750 meters down it. Not the best for my single speed but it would serve as a good recovery section. We stretched a bit then came back to the main part of the course. The first slope wasn't too bad, but it had a rocky technical section to get back into the parking lot and I was concerned about pinch flat city there.
Next over to the main slope up past the pits. Dang it was steep. About 20 meters straight up at first. Traverse across and into an even steeper 40 meter section. Here's me running up it in the race.
Thanks for the pics Stephen Cheung.
After a bit more climbing the course traversed the ski hill cutting through some wetter sections and some deep mud. Must have been from the run off. Into 180 and mostly down hill back across the slopes into some wide fast 180 turns. There was a technical turn under the pines that I went down on in practice so I went back up and did it a few more times. We popped out in the the flats by the Ski Lodge and into a sea of tape and about 400 step in stakes. It was a great spectator area with all hte buzz of the ski swap that was also going on.
On the main slope they were trucking in some snow for a snow board rail jam and the warm temps and sun was melting it, bringing some soupy mud sections into the course.

Damn!I have to go now so I'll post more about the race later.

KB CX race Sat Nov 14th

No riding today.
But I went to the skate park with my son Owen. We had fun for a while. I really suck. But am learning at the rate of a 12 year old. Ya know ollies and all that stuff.

Came home and registered for Kissing Bridge CX Race this saturday. Had to register through Bike reg.com.

It'll be interesting racing in the Masters 35+ at 1:00 with the Open Mens at the same time.

I hope to do pretty well. But Ya never know. There is only 16 master 35+ riders registered so far, so it should be pretty low key.

Tomorrow I'll go out and do a quick workout to open up the legs and work the Cardio system a bit. Probably Tabata intervals again. And some quick laps on my mini CX course.

Gotta hit the hay now. 5 am comes way too fast. I hate Day shift. But It's friday so I'm glad it's done for two weeks.

Not enough Magic tonight )-=

Tonight I decided to go on a MTB ride with the guys from the Short Hills Cycling club.
Riding out of the Tremont Tim Hortons at 6:30.
I had to change the gear ratio on my Gary Fisher Paragon 29er, since it was still set up the way I rode it in the Squeezer MTB race, 40 some odd days ago. Geared exceptionally hard with 34X13. Super fast and hard for racing but outrageous for just a casual trail ride with the boys.
I decided to go back to my usual magic gear ratio of 34X17. Since it was set up like that all summer. Should have been an easy gear swap. But I ran into technical difficulties with my chain. Since I was adding teeth to the cog, I had to add to the chain too. 3 links plus a quick link. I searched the shop for the old piece of chain I had in there before but couldn't find it. So I found a suitable piece and figured it would be good. Next thing to find was a quick link. Apparently I gave them all away or used them because I couldn't find one. Instead I figured I'd just use my chain break tool and join them that way. It appeared to work and the chain looked tight enough.
So after getting dressed for a little cooler ride. Maybe around 4* Celsius out, called for some heavier and warmer clothes and winter shoes. I loaded the rack on the car and headed over to meet the gang. With so many red lights along the way I made it right at 6:30.
SO we roll out and head up Tremont dr. Right off the bat up the steep road. No warm up or stretching, just GO. It was pretty hard, I had to stand up and power up to the easier section. We hit the top and I was tired already.
My 29er is a good bike but a lot heavier than either of my cross bikes. The thing rides like a tank compared to the Kona or Specialized. The big 2.35" tires are more than twice the width of my CX tires. And the weight is around 24 lbs. A full 6 pounds heavier than my CX rigs. Even though it's geared at 34X17 now it feels alot harder to ride up anything and it takes alot longer to get up to speed. But the big tires and wheels really smooth out the bumps and rocks on the trails.

Not 250 yards into the trail, while putting on the power up a fairly mellow but bumpy climb, I drop my chain. Dang! Probably the first time since April.
So I stop and put it back on, while the group waits ahead. I don't know, I thought the chain was tight enough. But apparently not. Maybe it was because I was using a ramped cog from an old cassette.
So I get going again and we continue to roll along at a leisurely pace. It still felt pretty hard going, even though we we just takin' it easy. The next hill we come to, I go to power up it and the first bump I hit throws the chain again. So I told the guys I was bailing on the ride due my loose chain issue. And they carry on.
But I usually don't give up very easily ,So I flipped the bike and repositioned the wheel a little deeper in the vertical dropouts. Figuring it might have climbed a little when I tightened it. Voila! A little magic and it was tight again. So I picked up my pace to bridge up the the group. Taking a few short cuts along the way.
I caught them at the trail head at the top of Stewart Green trail and seamlessly jumped on the back of the single file as we went down the escarpment. They didn't even know I was back with them.
Riding behind the slowest wheel in the group was a little boring. But pretty safe, as the down hill was totally covered in a blanket of leaves, hiding the roots and rocks on the speedy downhill.
So far so good, the chain was staying on.
We went over to do Switch Back City and I figured my chain tension issue was fixed. But when we got to the top of the first climb and started to ride the switch backs up I dropped my chain again, and promptly announced I was done for the night ,and I would limp home from there, or maybe do some intervals up Hydro Hill.
Once on the road I stopped to check my chain alignment. Figuring maybe that was the problem. But at the same time I noticed my connection of the 2 chains was coming apart, so that put an end to my thoughts of putting the bike under load and sprinting up the hill for a few Tabata intervals.
I managed to drop the chain again on the way back to the car. But I made it back at 7:30.
My total ride time was around 45 minutes. Almost a prefect length ride to serve as a recovery ride from the intervals I did yesterday.

I hit tie Timmies for a little coffee and a fritter. Then went into the Goodwill store, right there, to see if I could find anything good. All I got was an old Snowboarding VHS from 2001. It should be a good waste of time in front of the boobtube after CX season is done.

So ends another misadventure of a single Single Speeder.

Tuesday CX training

Went out to do some interval work on the Major One. It was a great night for November CX training ride. A little on the cool side for casual riding out on the road. But perfect for simulated CX race intervals.
I left the house just after 5, so it was starting to get dark. My light was still on my helmet and there was plenty of charge left in the battery, so riding in the dark was no problem.
I went over to my mini CX interval park.


I planned on doing high output, fast paced intervals. 3X 3 laps and 3 min rest in between.
The little park is a great place for cx riding. It has real smooth grass and is cut short all the time. There is lots of little trees to serve as 180 corner posts. There is about 20 yards of elevation change with a big off camber slope. I do a run up of your typical length, about 30 yards. The length of the straight is about 150 yards. There is a bigger section on the other side of Geneva st. that I can also link up to. But under the bridge was real muddy, with big ruts. And I wasn't planning on going down and hitting the fence.

After some stretching, I start the 1st interval from a stand still and count down just like a real CX race. I sprint for as long as I can. Usually till I get into the series of 6 180 degree turns with 2 being down hill. Great for practicing my cornering skills. A bit of a climb up across and then a down hill off camber turn into a quick 180. A long off camber sprint down then up around the culvert into a 180 back down the hill. High speed dismount into the run up, shouldering the bike and going as hard as I can. Remount and 180 back down through the trees a bit to a 180 and back up the slope to a 90, over to a 180 and then do it all over again.
By about the 3rd lap my legs are feeling the burn and my lungs are crying out for help. Kinda like some one stuck 2 butter knives in my back.
Just as I was finishing my last lap, I see some drunk dude staggering down the side walk. I didn't pay any attention to him. I just cooled down a bit and started to do my 2nd round. So I start hammering along and then buddy decided he need to talk to me. So he comes out onto my course and starts yellin' "Hey Mister! Can I ask you somethin'? Hey mister!" But I kinda ignored him and kept on riding ocasionally asking asking what he wanted as I passed him. "Do you have a 45 magnum or a shot gun that I can have? I need you to kill me!" I'm like WTF! And I just kept on riding until I finished my interval. Then I grabbed my water bottle and got outta there. Damn guy spoiled a good work out I had going.
So I rode over to Burgoyne Woods to do some more work. It was more secluded so I had no interuptions. I finished a quick 3 laps and headed back over to my CX park on Geneva.
Ended up doing a quick 2 more laps and found I was all outta gas for more laps. So I collected my stuff and hit the road home.
By the time I got over to Colligate High school, I decided I should do some more sprint work on the track. So I started like a CX race and sprinted for 20 seconds then rest for 10. X 7 I think it called Tabata intervals. It's supposed to help my Lactose acid tolerance. I don't know. But it's a good work out and I find it helps me ready my legs and lungs for CX racing. I'll usually do a few like this the day before a race. Not that I am racing tomorrow.

Just a couple blocks ride home from there and a bit of cool down laps on my street.

I think I'll just do a recovery ride tomorrow. Easy 1 hour ride with no heavy breathing, or maybe get into a good group trail ride, and just take it easy.

I guess I'll just have to see how my legs feel tomorrow after work.

A trip through the woods with a Major One!

Went out for a ride this evening after 8:30. It was a too nice out not to ride.
Solo of course! Mostly because I never know when I'll get around to riding.

It's so much fun blasting down the trails at night with a light on. You can only live as far as the light shines. Around every corner is something that you have to react to.

So anyways I went out with no idea of where I wanted to go. I just knew I wanted to ride. I ended up warming up through downtown and over past the "White House of Rock" down into the valley under the high level bridge. The first down hill is a great way to get your blood pumping and the adrenaline coursing through your veins.
Went to the east side of the 12 mile creek and over to Suzanne's trail. I stopped just into the single track to stretch.
Heard some crackling and thought someone was messing around in the woods by the creek. But it turns out it was some rednecks across the creek, up the bank in the Western Hill, burning some leaves in their back yard. The fire had to be about 12' high.

Suzanne's trail was in wicked shape. It was fast and smooth like a race track. Sweet Single track!

Went up the east side of the creek at Glendale to the red sands. It was fast too. Can you say Hammer time? I actually made it up the upper part of the trail past the red sands.

Went in to what I call Switchback City. Really it should be called is Boss Hog's trail. It was a good work out. Especially on the Kona Major One, geared at 42X18. I was glad to climb everything. And it was a sign of things to come. Someone had been in there raking the leaves off the trail. It was fun.

Went up the trail beside Lockhart dr. And saw a couple deer. Pretty big and cool to get so close to them.

Went to the backside of the gate at the bottom of Hydro Hill. And sprinted up to the Switch Back trail to Alfie's trough trail. Tried running up, but there was so much leaves covering the rocks, it was trip city waiting to happen. That and the fact I could hardly breath from the road sprint up.
All of Alfie's trough was leaf covered . But there was a definite tramppled trail to follow. It was cool speeding along the ridge. I actually made the climb up to Brock at the end of the trail. Sweet!
Went across the top next. It was good because someone painted all the rocks and roots white. It must be for the Brock runners or something.
Popped out and did the fence line trail over to the road. Ended up doing some sprint work on the road. Sprint for 20 seconds and rest for 10 and repeat till I hit the Brock trail.
Riding at night is also cool because even though I had rode the trails hundreds of times, they always appear different. Kinda like a new trail.
Came to Decew road and jammed on the brakes because there was a snow fence up for the construction. Hiked around it and rode the bridge. All the asphalt was torn off so I was riding old wood on the base of the bridge.
Cut in behind the ruins and started with the sprint intervals again for the whole trail and out around the reservoir.
Dropped in and did the Mill trail. It is best going in the west direction, because it is mostly down hill. High speed blasting all the way.
Popped out at the Mill and went over to Driftwood. Had some good memories of the Squeezer bombing down the trail. Took the easy way up the steep at the creek.
Went into the Short Hills and did the Magic Carpet Ride trail over to the Hill up to Pelham rd. Had a good burn going up the hill.
Next down to the scout camp and over to Hogs Back Trail. Almost climbed it, but put a foot down a couple times. Still managed to get going again and mashed up to the top. The backside was real sketchy with all the leaves and the muddy base.
The Very Berry Trail out to the road was a blast at speed.
Next, went left up into the pines. Had a good climb up there. Plenty of power. I was surprised how good I felt climbing everything.
Had to jam on the brakes, as there was a small tree down at about knee height, blocking the trail at the bottom of the Pickston trail.
After that I took the high road over to the guard rail. And was also amazed at how well I cleaned the steep up.
Why stop there? So I went up the trail again at Power Glen Dr. I think that burned most of the matches I had left though. Didn't feel like climbing much after that, so I skipped the new trail, and went right to the pines at Rotary Park. Managed to clean the up, after the little bridge to the park. But I was officially done climbing for the night.
Went over and down to the Twister trail and had a blast whooping and dipping along there.
Wussed out and took the flats over to Glendale from there.
The last effort of the night was a longish interval from Glendale to the foot bridge under the High level bridge. I pushed the pace the whole way. And the cx dismount and hop over the chain at the end was a good finish to the ride.

It definitely was a bonus to get out and ride some sweet single track in great shape in November. Along with the balmy late September temps.

I will be riding tomorrow. A little less fun and more like work though CX intervals. Hopefully in the daylight too.