LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG Time no BLOG!

WOW!
Can't remember the last time I blogged.
Thought I woulda' got deleted by now. Any HOOO!

Had a good easy MTB ride on the St.Kitts single track trails. Misfit was rollin' good.
Great trails for the end of Oct. We are so lucky to have such awesome trails just out our doors.

Sadly no CX this week end. Gone out of town on business. But I might sneak back for Sunday @ Kelso though.

Interested to see how a race with an additional 19 gears goes.

Training in the rain tomorrow will be gloriously craptactular but fun. No one ever rides in the rain enough to fully appreciate it.

More blogging to follow in the future. Hopefully pics too.

A little trip to the archives of my 7 year old computer to clog up the internet a bit more for ya.

Name that celebrity with mechanical failure.


KEEP IT ROLLIN'

CDMBR Rocked.

Well, when I awoke sunday morning I felt like crapola.
Nixed the idea of rockin the Cave man.

Since I didn't get a hold of a fork to replace the cracked Misfit fork. I rode my monster cross Specialized Single cross with the Panaracer Firecross 45's.

The race was a blast. Right up until I flatted in the first section of single track. Musta pinch flatted. I guess I shoulda put a bit more air in the tires. Well after fixing that, I tried my best to catch every single rider that passed me and not to get caught by the fastest in the 2nd wave.
I ended up catching a bunch but the 5 min lost was never to be recovered. Seeing as I am not in the prime condition I had hoped to be in.

I tell ya the course was pretty grueling. It never let up on ya. Not really flowy, more technical and grindy. Especially on a cx bike geared at 39X18.I can't complain. I love suffering and pushing through to the end. The 2 laps just flew by.
I ended up surviving not getting caught from behind by Garage Monster Marc Risdale.
Pushed hard enough to stave off cramps until the last 500 meters on the road. I musta finished in about 25 overall and 4th in the SS cat.
Afterwards I had a great time chillin with mini me and all the good company of the SHCC and the other visiting racers.

I look forward to training for CX season and the up coming Hot August nights 24 hour MTB race.

Later
J

A trip to the pain Cave?

Well it is the eve of the 2nd Annual CDMBR. What is in store for the race?
I imagine a good time in the woods suffering on the bike.
My fitness is not as high as last year so I'll be hitting the pain cave a little more than I'd like.
MEH! What can ya do? Just suck it up and go out and have some fun.
Thinkin' of rockin the Caveman race kit. But the hair is the worst for getting in the way rippin it up. What did I say earlier? Goin' out to have some fun, so I guess the Caveman it is. The only real problem I have is how do I incorporate the Lightning bolt into the get up?

I guess we will see tomorrow.

On another note, I just came across the schedual for the Southern Ontario CX racing season. That's just what I needed to get fired up and start training more seriously.


Regardless of what bike I ride or how fast I go, tomorrow is gonna be a fun day on 2 wheels. Hangin out with cool peeps and racing a great course.

Later!

Beat the heat ride.

Not too much going on here at Camp Captain lightning.
Went for a ride yesterday. Not really a ride but a training session.
Man! This heat is craptactular for riding in.
So instead of sweating my but off and suffering in the sweltering sun, I jumped on my tricross with the fixed cog on it at 12:30 AM last night and set out to pump out a few intervals.
The temp was great last night. Not too hot, just perfect for a bit of timed suffering.
But alas the heat of the afternoon sun still affected me. After just 3 intervals my legs felt dead so I called it a night.
I should be able to get out tonight again, since I feel pretty good today.
I'll probably put on a bigger ring. The 39X16 was a little too light to be a building work out. Good for hammering on the trails but too easy for on the road. Gonna put the 42t back on, then the suffering will be better.

I just bought a 1988 Mazda B2200 truck for under a grand. SO it'll be eating up a bit of my race entry fees until I get it E-tested and safetied. But it should be better than the old beat up MX-6 that just went for a crap on me.

Here's a pick of my Zanny alter ego at the 24 hours of SS taken by Jeff K.
I had a blast whoopin' it up and adding some enthusiasm to the scene.

Gotta start really training hard for CX season now. Hopefully things will be even better then last year. Starting out the year in M1 so I have some work ahead of me if I wanna hit the top 10 and even the podium.

Gotta go now.

A good day for Puddle Dodging and Bug Picking.

Went for a little cx ride monday evening.
Seeing as the trails were water logged, I figured I'd get out and string together some double track and utility roads.

Turned out to be 2:16:00 ride time with an average HR of 125 bpm. So it was just some more milage for the base.
Rolled outta here @ 6:30 on the Tricross SingleCross geared at 39X16, so my feet weren't spinning too much, but I was more out to burn some fat and enjoy the weather. The temps were comfortable and the sun was shining. A great day to be on 2 wheels.
I really had no plan as to where I was gonna go, just wing it and see what I could cover.
I ended up close to Hydro Hill, and figured a trip up it would hurt too much , so I headed over to the foot trail up to Alphie's Trough and Brock. It was a good opportunity to practice my CX shouldering up the hill. All the while hiking up the hill. I took pleasure in checking out the terrain of the escarptment and imagining potential lines linking up the trails.
Also since I wasn't going too fast I could take a look at the ground cover foliage and see if I could spot some Poison Ivy. Since I really am not too sure what it looks like I thought I should start being more vigilant, because I got some on my legs last week.
I don't actually know where I got P.I. from. It could have been the trail building we did in the Bradley street trails or when I "mistakenly" rode the hikers only trails in the Short Hills. Probably the latter, since karma has a funny way of getting you back. Anyways, it's not to bad now. The meds the Doc gave me are working good.

Went out to Allenburg bridge and back on the Atv trails mixed in with some canal path. Saw a few dear and scared the turds out of a bunch of bunnys.
Ended up spinning down the Parkway to Glendale bridge and crossed to the east side utility road. Seaway Haulage road it's called. I stopped on a bridge by lock 3 for a quick pic. Since it's somewhere not too many people have been.

Then I went under the skyway down to Lakeshore rd. The double track part of the ride is cool because you have to dodge the puddles to stay mostly dry. Swerve left, then right, bunny hop the small ones and wheelie the wide ones. As good as flat double track gets, I guess.
When I made a quick stop for water and traffic at lock 2, thought I'd take a look at my legs to see if I had picked up any hitch hikers in the form of deer ticks. Well sure enough I had. The little bugger was crawling on my calf lookin' for a place to feast. Flicked the bastard off and continued down to Port Weller.
The only reason I thought to look for ticks is because last saturday I went to show my Moms my P.I. on my legs and found a tick burrowing in to my skin. I am pretty sure it got on me from the walk I just took my dog on. I had recently read how to remove a tick, so I flipped it onto it's back and pulled the little sucker out.

Time and daylight was running out so I roaded it back home from lock 1.

All in all a god day for a ride.

A few more rides like that but twice as long, then I'll start to do some interval work to build up my LT in time for the Canal days mtb race August 1st. I hope to hit the podium again this year.
Well off to bed now for me.
Until the next post, keep yer wheels rollin' and watch out fer those damn ticks.

Replied to a PM about SS conversion or a road bike. And figured that I don't wanna waste all this typing one just on person. So I put it here to help others waste time on the internet.
Here it is:
"Talk to Willie Coyle about the crank length. I don't know about fit for crank lenght on the physiological side of things.
I'd just ride the 170's. It'll improve your spin. But you won't have as much leverage on the climbs and sprints.

As a mtb SS, I try to get long cranks for the steep ups. But on the roads you wanna spin lots.

As far as converting the Bianchi, you can just use the same chain for now. You need semi horizontal drop outs to tension the chain. You can buy a Single speed chain or a 8 speed chain, if you want. It'll be stronger. I've broke a few 9 spd chains.
If the wheel has a cassette then you gotta remove it and get a spacer kit ($40)that'll come with a cog. Or ya can ghetto it and I'll give you some pipe to make your own spacers, and use a cog from an old cassette.
If you have lots of old cassettes you can take them apart and use all the spacers and do it that way too.

If the wheel has a freewheel on it. Most older bikes do. I'd take it off and and put on a bmx free wheel. Then I'd respace the hub and redish the wheel. I just raced the Sprague brook this weekend on a wheel that I did this to. You gotta be pretty handy with a spoke wrench though.

Take off the front ring you don't wanna use then you have to get some bmx chainring nuts and bolts and mount the chainring. Inside or outside is fine. But I go with inside most times. You can also grind down some longer bolts. But watch out it gets pretty hot on the fingers while grinding.
One thing you have to worry about is the chain line. You wanna look from the back to front to see if the chain is straight, from cog to crank. Flip the bike upside down and look along the chain to see if it is straight. you may have to adjust the spacing on the hub or the spacers. Which ever one you have.

You have to rip off all the all the gearie junk. Try and take it off with out cutting the cables so the shifter is still attached to the deraileur. Then go outside and throw it up and wrap it around a telephone wire. It really adds to the neighborhood. =-)"

I have more stuff to spew about later. But my forearms are stating to cramp from typing.

TTFN
Jason

Captain Lightning rips it up!

YEE HAW! What a Hoot that was.



A rockin' good time, I had at the Paris to Ancaster bike race today.
Finished it it a respectable 2:14:13. 1st in the single Speed Cat.

I'll start of with a bit of pre-race happenings that contributed to the good time I had.

I finally registered for the race on Thursday evening. Last chance for online registering. Meaning I would have to start in the 3rd wave. Which would have been a lot harder to hit my goal of 2:15 finish time.
I figured I'd hit the wave transfer table on Saturday and wait for the 1st available spot in the 2nd wave and hope for the best in the race.
Saturday I went to register and was thinking positive about getting in. Well it went better than I had hoped for. I got to Ancaster at 1:15, registered and went to the transfer table and started the line up waiting for a spot in an earlier wave. I was 1st in line to transfer and I told the girl who was doing the transfers that "I was willing to wait all day". Then I heard a rumor that there would be no transfers up because all the spots were full. It wasn't looking good but I was still hopeful and thinking positive.
As I was waiting, I was explaining to the next people in line, whom had now started to line up as well, how the transfer process works. Then out of the blue, one of the organizer dudes walks up to the table and starts talking to the young lady. Then he says "just give the spot to the first in line". YES! A spot in the first wave. Sweet! Better than I had hoped for. And I only had to wait for 10 minutes. Pretty Cool!

Now on to the race prep. So on the way home I hit up Value Village for some material for a good get up to wear in the race. Since the Cave Man costume would be too much of a handicap for 60 km. I ended up getting a good sized piece of yellow stretchy fabric for $2. Then I went home and turned on the hockey game and busted out my room mates sewing machine. I quickly cut out a cape and fabricated some shoe covers and matching arm warmers. Lastly I cut out some lightning bolts to add some flash to the out fit. Now I was ready to fly through the race using my super Single Speed powers, and bring some enthusiasm to the event.

Everything went as planned for my warm up and I got staged pretty good in the 1st wave. Off the horn I just went with the flow and passed when I could, but mostly just took it easy and stayed out of trouble. I'd say that when we hit the first climb up the rocky hill I was in the top 150 and feeling pretty good.
Now things were getting stretched out a bit more, so I just tried to work with the other riders when we hit the road sections and I would pull away in the off road sections only to be caught again on the roads. I mostly let myself get caught, so I wouldn't have to work all by myself. I'd usually get dropped on the steeper hills, since I was pushing 42X16 for a gear ratio. And climbing was a grind.
I was feeling good for the most part and the kms were just flying by.
I think I got passed by around 50 riders all race, but I passed a few who fell off the pace.

The one highlight of my race was some Wicked air I caught over a driveway beside the highway. I hit it hard and almost cleared the whole thing. My back wheel cased it a bit, but I got around 3 feet of air. It was so fun.

The whole race I was getting cheers for my cape and the lightning bolt I put on my helmet. There was a few people who said "way to go Superman". But I quickly corrected them and said I was "Captain Lightning".

After the last feed station was a bit of climbing. I was feeling pretty good still only a little tired. Then some dude passes me at the top of the climb and asks me haw I was doing then suggests that I was cramping or dehydrated. I says No, but he sabotaged me and now I felt the first twindg of a cramp right after that. Just prior to that I had taken some power gel, a banana and the most of my water. So I had just barely staved off the cramps with 8 km to go.
Shortly after that I hear "MCGYVER" being yelled from behind. It was Jon Toews and Sara Byers-Oglvie. Fellow Short Hills Cycling teammates. I didn't really have the power to keep up with them but they never really got too far ahead. And they were only 100 meters ahead of me on the final climb. So I had the opportunity to cheer Sara on and it was a good distraction from the suffering of the steep pitch ahead.
I dismounted for the steep part but managed to not cramp and keep my speed up so my cape would flow in the wind. As evident in the picture Derek Mc took at the start of this post.

On to the finish. Well I crossed the line and noticed the clock wasn't showing a time so I looked at my cyclo computer and it said 2:14...
After a bit of a rest to catch my breath. I went over to the hill to cheer on a few riders and see some friends finish.

Later on inside, I got my food and was hanging out with the SHCC gang. Then I went to check my placing. WHAT! I wasn't on the list where I had finished. So now I had to go and get it straightened out. Mostly because I was the 1st Single Speeder across the line. After a bit of nervous explaining and confirmation from the guy who finished ahead of me. We figured out the timing sensors didn't catch our chips and everything got fixed. WHEW!

WOO HOO! I took the top spot on the podium and won a cool "race winner" Paris to Ancaster jersey. Awesome!

A thanks goes out to everyone in the Short Hills Cycling club who helped out. And a thanks to the officials and volunteers who helped make the race happen.

And so ends another mis-adventure of a single speeder.

What's that I smell?

That's the smell of a stale blog. One of the millions on the web.
I figured I'd at least post to make sure it doesn't get deleted.

Well we are 18 days away from the Paris to Ancaster race. Will I be ready?
I imagine I will be stronger than last year. but how strong is the Question?

I'm thinking I will get my UCI racing license before the race. I need it to get into the 1st wave, and it turns out the Southern Ontario CX series upped the license requirements for the series , so I need it anyways.

Well I gotta go.

Riding in the rain is fun!

It was rainy today. I didn't ride much. Only a short sprint to work. I barely got wet. Mostly road spray.

But the topic I've been hearing about lately is riding in the rain. It reminds me of a lost blog entry I posted on another site. I resurrected it for here. It was a good ride, one of many rainy rides I've had.
Here it is:

"Today I felt the feeling of being alive.

Sep. 27, 2007
I did it again today. I felt truly alive.
@ about 1:00pm today I went to do a lap on the We Need more Cow Bell cyclocross race course.
There I was alone in Bergoyne Woods. Just me and my bike.
Dark clouds looming off to the west. Temperature was warm so I decided to ride anyways.
I get to the imaginary start line and wait for my heart to settle a little before I do a hot lap.
My clock ticks past zero and I am off. At the same time the drizzle starts to turn into a steady rain. Here I am sprinting along the grass in the middle of the field for no apparent reason. I don't feel the rain yet. All I feel is my legs getting tired and my lungs calling for more air. My brain says go go go.
Turn left, turn right, sprint, go go go over and over again.
About 5 minutes into the 2 mile lap I am starting to get tired and now I feel soaked. It kinda feels like I am riding in a pool.
The rain is now pouring from the sky. The wind whips it into my face as I speed along.
I am bombarded by all my senses at once. I guess the self exerted pain of racing along and the extreme weather has magnified all my senses. Across my face is one of the biggest smiles I have produced in many days.
When I realize that I am smiling and I see the situation that is creating such glee I can identify the feeling now of being truly Alive. I think it might be that all my senses are more acute and right there. There is nothing else to feel but the moment.
Looking back on the ride, I might say that it was a pretty crazy situation. But I had a blast. It was 15 minutes in my day where nothing else mattered. Just get to the finish line was all there was to worry about.
Maybe that is why I ride/race my bike?
While I race along all the worries and troubles of this world disappear. I feel alive to my senses and my surroundings.

Hope you enjoyed the read.
I hope maybe you to will get that feeling of being alive soon."

I'll probably get wet tomorrow morning. It's alright. I enjoy riding wet.

SUNday solo ride.

Slept for 10.5 hours after yesterdays ride. Whew I needed that.

Rolled out of here at 1:00 headed for the Falls and beyond.

Ended up doing a good 74 Km ride



It was a good day on the road. Warm but a little windy out of the WSW at around 20 km/h. It was really had to work to keep the pace around 25 km/h. But the sun was shining and I was in the zone as far as my heart rate was concerned so it was all good. A great day for base miles.

First stop was on Lundy's Lane at Starbucks for an Americano and a marshmello cake. Met a friend there to chat a bit then went to his house to fix his bike a bit. NOT really FIX his bike , like mine is FIXED. But work on it for him. Hooked it up for him and he hooked me up with a home brew americano which was pretty good with the little biscotto er what ever that little bread is called. It hit the spot and helped me work in the wind.

Left there and headed down the Niagara River Parkway for a bit. Remembered that Sara the "First Lady" from the SHCC worked at the Willoghby Museum. So I stopped in there for a squirt in the washroom and checked out her place of employment. Also saw her caad 9 road bike. Pretty sweet.
Went further down the parkway and then the real work started. Headwind all the way back up Marshal rd all the way to the canal. I can't complain. It coulda been windier.
It was good though. A great day for a ride in the beautiful sun.
I couldn't even tell I was riding FIXED until I hit Glenridge rd coming down the hill. It was a blast. Holding off pedaling until I thought I could spinn the rest of the way down. Ended up hitting 53.3 km/h. Spinning my ass off. So fun!

Is it FIXED or Broken?

SO I got ready for a ride saturday by throwing a track cog on the left side of my back wheel and flippin it over. I went with the same sized cog as the free wheel I've been rockin since I got my Kona Major One at the Squeezer.

I rode fixed before, so it didn't take long for me to get used to it. After a couple self kicks in the ass I remembered I couldn't stop pedaling.

42X18 is probably the borderline for small gearing and riding in a group. I was able to keep up to a pace of 30-32 km/h. Anything over that for an extended period was pushin' it. Under that was more comfortable.

I headed up to meet the SHCC gang at the Dump @ Brock University

Got there right on time and rolled out with Tom M, Keith F, and Val and Tim T.

We did a great ride out to Smithville.
Into the wind or a cross wind all the way. It was a chore for me to keep the pace high. But we stayed together and got there in one piece.
I kinda held the group back a bit on the way back down wind. I could only push it up to 32 km/h most of the way. Until we got to the hill at Rockway, then I told them to go ahead as I couldn't descend as fast as them.

Going down the hill was the funnest part of the ride though. Spinning my feet at about 200 rpm trying to keep from bouncing is pretty Freaky! It makes me laugh out loud.

So would I recommend riding a fixed gear bike to anyone? You betcha! It was hard but it was fun too. It wouldn't be as much of a challenge to just ride a geared bike 100 km

Just missed the peleton!

I wonder why I am always rushing?
Something I have to work on I guess.
No preparation for the ride ahead of time might explain it. Next time I'll be there on time. I hope!

Anyways this morning I got up in time. Got dressed and fueled up and started to work on my bike to change the gearing so I wouldn't be so spinny trying to hang on to the back of the Short Hills cycling club Sunday road group ride.
I got the rig ready in time but was running around trying to find all my gear to stay warm enough. Lost around 10 minutes there. Then I lost another 5 minutes trying to start the car. Seems to be on it's way out. So I decided to ride up the hill to meet the group.
Missed them by about 8 minutes. So instead of bothering them with a phone call,I figured I would bust my arse for a bit and take some short cuts and get ahead of the gang part way out there. I kinda had an idea as to the route the gang was gonna take so I just kept pushing to catch them. Well I guess I either pushed too hard or I took the wrong way to find them. It doesn't really matter because I was having a good ride on a beautiful day in the country. It kinda added to the ride to see if I could find them.
Here's the route I took for the day. I'll call it the River Rd Route

I did great pushing myself most of the time. No music just the sound of the wind and the constant whurring of my tires. Some real good solitude and meditation in the sun.
My gearing was still a little light but not bad at 42X18. I'll have to kick it up a couple more teeth in a few weeks.
Even though I didn't catch the group it was still a fantastic ride.
After a short stop at the Morningstar mill to talk to fellow local Single Speeder Adrian Palmer, I ended up getting to the Brock Tim Horton's about 10 minutes after the group. I hung out there to re-carb a bit, then headed down the hill home.

Here is my only picture I took on the ride. It's of a beer can Inukshuk I made on river road. Just in case the group was behind me. Something for them to discuss while riding.

So ends another mis-adventure of a single speeder

Solo Snow ride in the Short Hills

Rolled outta here at around 10:30 pm.

Went out the flats to the Very Berry Trail. Stopped for a night time picture with the phone cam.


Went past the Boy scout camp along the closed lower trail and headed over to the #4 trail out to the Hemlock Trail.
It was pretty Sweet. Except for the climb/ hike up the steep hill to the top of #4.

Trails were packed snow with some xc ski tracks. Man that #5 loop rocks!

Made it back to the Tim Hortons at 4th ave at 1:30ish. A little bit of carb replacement in the form of a cinnimon raisin bagel and some chocolate milk.

It wasn't all that long of a ride but it hit the spot. I couldn't tell you how far I went because a couple times my wireless cyclo comp quit working for a bit.

Then this morning at 11:30 I went to Premiere Fitness and hit the Studio for a good session of plyometrics.

Tomorrow I'll be taking my cx rig out to Welland to drop off Justins #69 race plate from the frost bike race. Kinda funny how I ended up with it.
I volunteered to marshal on the course. So I brought my bike to maybe do a lap. But when the young whipper snapper Justin Henri came walking back from 1/2 a lap, I volunteered my bike for him to do his second lap. Considering that I ride a Single Speed rigid 29er, I thought it was funny and would be an interesting experience for him. Coming off riding a 26" geared squishyness bike. Also my bike doesn't have the best brakes and my wheels are pretty budget.
But he did pretty good on it. He kept up to his starting mates and was only 3 seconds out of 3rd place in the under 35 cat.
After the race we exchanged bikes and he forgot to take his plate off. So I have been driving around for the last 2 weeks with a cool #69 race plate in the front window of my car.
I may also get the chance to ride with the SHCC on the trails in the morning so I'll try to take some pics and post EM' up.

time to hit the sack and catch some ZZZ's

Woot! What a cool weekend!

Had a great weekend. It was a blast.

I had my son Owen over for the long weekend and it turned out to be pretty cool.

First off, on friday night we were goin' up Lundy's Lane in the falls, and I noticed on the Micky D's sign "meet Ronald tonight at 6". It happened to be 5:58, so I did U turn and we squeezed in and contributed to all the Olympic HoopLa. It was actually pretty cool to see all the action. All the MILF's running around tryin' to corral their little ones. They had a DJ rockin some beats, and Owen requested Fire Burnin' for his Dad (me). I think Ronald was one of my childhood idols, and I never ever got the chance to meet him in person until now.
We got a picture too.


Then on Saturday, after Owens Karate at the Y and my short 35 minute run while he was learnin' how to kick some butt. We jumped in the car and went to Toronto to check out an indoor skatepark. Cj Skate school and park in Mimico.
Both Owen and I are just beginner skate boarders, but we give it our best shot and are learning more and more every time we skate.
It was a pretty wicked place. Tons of masonite every where. There was 2 mini bowls with a spine. There was a 3' mini 1/2 that I had some fun on. They had a HUGE 15' 1/2 that some big dudes were riding. They had a terrain park area with a cool roll in 1/2 pipe with a little mini 1/4 on top of the other side. there was tons of banks and 1/4 everywhere.
They had cameras set up all over so you could see the line and trick ya just did. All you do is press a button then start rippin' it up and by the time you got over to the other end you could see the replay on a big screen TV.
And the funest part was a huge 15'roll in across a flat to a 6' 1/4 pipe launch into a big foam pit.
I dropped in and hit it full speed and it threw me up about 8' above the top of the 1/4, and landing in the pit was cool because it was nice and soft, but a real bitch to get out of. here's a video of it:


I'm going to make a slower motion version of this movie. It got fast forwarded in the conversion process from my phone to my comp.

On sunday we laid low for the first part of the day and recovered from the beating we took at the skate park. Then in the afternoon we went for a free skate at the Garden City Arena with the NRP and the NHL oldtimers before the game. Since Owen's step dad was playin in the game for the NRP, we got free tickets.
Here's Owen and his Bud with Gaston Gingras


Then on Family day Monday, Owen and I went to play some real pond hockey in Niagara falls. It wasn't a real pond just a huge puddle by the park on Kalar rd. But it was the first time that Owen had ever been on the ice with a hockey stick in his hands. He had fun and I really had fun because it brought back memories of my childhood and all the time I spent on the ice.

I was glad to spend the whole weekend with Owen, and doing some of the fun things there is to do. Just DAD and SON.

Time?

Never enough time for everything I wanna do.
Hitting the gym every so often.
Work.
Play with son, Owen. Headed to CJ indoor skate park in Toronto, this afternoon after his KARATE! Might try out the Y while I am there.

Will post pics later tonight.

Check out a good warm up routine I've been doing before most of my workouts.
It really helps warm up my hips when they get sore from running.

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Stay tuned for more action from your friendly neighborhood Single Speeder.

Actually doing some work!

Well, It's been a while since the last post.

Blogging takes time, and most days I am too busy to sit in one spot for very long. Riding, sliding, spinning, bowling, lounging, swimming, you know all the fun stuff there is to do.

Recently I've been doing a heck of a lot more working out than last year. Actually last year I am pretty sure I didn't do more than 50 sit ups/crunches for the whole year. Practically Nothing!

I only rode my bike a bunch. For the first part of the year I really didn't train. Just riding a bit here and there.
I started training on July and only did like a 1/2 sized peroidization training plan. Ya know Base, then Build, then Race phases. I would say it worked out pretty good.
I came 2nd at the CDMBR in the 35+ cat, Won the SS cat in the Squeezer (36th overall), Won a CX race in the M2 division (riding single speed of course), got enough points to upgrade to the M1 division then upgraded and didn't come DFL.

This year so far I have actually been to the gym and lifted a few weights. Did a few core workouts and now I sit with sore muscles. It feels good. Tomorrow I will be purchasing an annual gym membership at Premiere Fitness. I actually plan on going and getting my whole body stronger so I can do even better this year.

If this working out doesn't provide results, I am pretty sure it will, I have a new plan to get stronger on the bike.

The Time Crunched Cyclist Training plan by Chris Carmichael. Tomorrow I embark on the plan, with a test to base all my workouts for the next 11 weeks.

The book was a good read and a good motivator to get better.
I should be hitting my first peak of the year right around the the first couple big CX and MTB events in Southern Ontario. And I plan on doing the cycle throughout the year to see if I can meet some even bigger goals.

The spring will tell if I can use the TCTP to my benefit. If I don't get results then I can always revert to a periodization plan again. We will just have to wait and see.

L8R I gotta run!
literally, going for a short 5 km run before bed.

Earliest spin EVER!

Actually went to Premier Fitness this morning. Woke up at 6 and got there for 7.

Went to meet Steve Deboer for a spin class, but no one else showed up. So we just rode the spin bikes for a bit. And Steve gave me the scoop on all the action at the gym and stuff.
Had a good recovery ride spin for an hour, then did a bit of pumping iron in the circuit room. Nothing too serious, just an introduction to the gym.

Burned enough calories to warrant eating breakfast two times before 10 AM in the morning.

Weighed myself on the scale there and it says I weigh 155 lbs. Which sounds reasonable. But really contradicts my digital home scale reading of 166 lbs.

Premier fitness club looks like a great gym. And I am planning to return on a more frequent basis. I really have the desire to get in even better shape this year, and I believe getting stronger all around is the key. Especially the core.
So I might go back after work this evening for a quick core workout.

I am thinking a longer bike ride out to the Tim Hortons by the Seaway Mall tomorrow morning and return through the Hollow is in order. Possibly a return to the gym after work again.
That's the plan. But I'll just have to take it as it comes and make the best of it. One day at a time, One ride at a time.

Off to research good core work out routines.

Later!

Spinning anyone?

FANTASTIC day for ride with the Northern Short Hills Cycling Club Brothers. (and friends)
Met at the Brock Landfill for 10AM for a so called "Leisurely" road tour.
Started out with 10 riders at 10 am sharp. There was some good legs in the group so things got split up early, only to re-group after a short warm up.

Here is the route we took plotted on gmaps-pedometer.com

Turned out to be a spirited ride of just under 50 km. I really enjoyed riding in the group. But the only problem I had, was that my Kona Major One, was under geared for riding in a group on the road. I set it up at 40X18 for the trails and snowy rides. But WAY too spinny for putting in sustained pulls on the front and hanging on the back was even a chore. It was a real learning experience, in the sense that I now know what gear I need for the road to keep pace with the geared guys and familiarizing myself with the intricacies of riding in a group of riders.
I spun my ass off tryin to hang on for the whole last 1/4 of the ride and only got dropped comin down the last stretch to Brock.

So all in all a great day for a ride and another 50 km off my goal of 1000 km base mileage before some building work. Only 900 km to go!

Sorry no photos. But at least I got to hide the link behind the word. Next time I'll do a screen shot for the photo of the route.

Peace out and happy riding to all!

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Had a good 40 km mtb ride with the guys from the Short Hills Cycling club yesterday.
Trails were in great wintery shape. Only a few spots with bad ice.

Gettin' ready to head out on the road with the club guys for 10 am. We are doin' the Sulfer springs ZigZag. soit should be a good long one.

Stopped at the landfill for a pic.


I will post more later.

Inadequate thermalness leads to uncormfotable chillyness!

So after a quick wheel swap and a not so quick gear change. (42T to 39T ring) The Specialized was ready to hit the road.
The reason for the wheel change is because the on Wednesday I went out for a short recovery ride from Tuesdays 50 km ride. And as the result of an exceptionally cool Fixie skid, I stripped the threads on my Durace 7600 track hub. FUBAR! Ended up jogging the 3 kms home just to make it into a work out. CRAPtackular! Messed it up good. OH well, it just means I need to buy a new set of wheels now. Probably carbon TUBS for CX season.
So I loaded the bikes on the rack and headed over to my friend, Mary-Lee's. An introduction to single speeding for the lady. Was really just getting her to ride my bike to see if she fit a 54cm frame. And it looked pretty between her legs.


So we rode the canal path from Lock 1 to the Skyway Bridge and back. Just an easy spin on a sunny January day. But both of us were under layered and started to get a little cold from the east wind off the canal. After peeling off a few of my layers for Mary-Lee, we finished the ride in a bit quicker pace and jumped in the car to get warm.
Whilst on the ride, I managed to get a pic of the both of us.

Including a bunch of Bats in the cave and one huge snot-scicle hanging off my nose when zoomed in. Just the way ya wanna look when riding with a lady!


All in all a good day for a short ride, but mostly a better lesson in layering to stay warm while riding.

And so brings an end to another mis-adventure of a single speeder.

Pedal Pushing Begins

Finally got out for a ride yesterday.

I was soo good to got on the bike. Renewed enthusiasm for riding again.

Left here on the Kona CX rig. Went down Carlton to the Welland Canal. Rode the path up to Glendale, then road up to Lock 7. Path was clear except from the tracks up to lock 7.
Hit the service road over the Thorold tunnel, then back on the cleared path. Took that out to Allenburg Bridge. Clear sailing most of the way. Except after the Kiwanas foot bridge to the Lift Bridge. Tough slog through the slush and ice. But a nice challenge to put the power down and stay upright on the cx rig.

Canal path all the way out to E.S.Fox building in Port Robinson.

Did a u-turn and headed for home, which was pretty fun because I only had a small bar light on and a blinky MEC turtle light on the bar.

Ended up being a good ride.

I tried to map it on this cool map app I got from a runner friend.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3424058

It lets you track your route.
Pretty cool beans.

Just getting ready for a recovery ride now. So I'll finish bloggin' for now.
But a blog without pictures is pretty boring. Since the gmap pedometer didn't link up right. Here is a pic I snapped of my mtb while out on my birthday ride.

Can anyone guess where it was taken. Hint:It's on my secret CX training route.

Happy riding to all!

Running is fun!

I guess if I keep telling myself that running is fun, I'll keep on doing it.
Definitely a great work out. Even better when ya have company to chat with while out and about.

Ran for 9.92 km this evening. Pretty sure the longest I have run in the last 20 years. Just over 1 hour long.

Got a bit of stretching and warm up tips from my friend Mary-Lee. It was fun chasing her around her house warming up.
It makes a real difference when ya stretch thoroughly before and after.

Looking forward to hitting the road and double track on the bike tomorrow. It's been way too long.

Nothing to lose, but 10 lbs.

Going on a run with a lady friend. Hopefully she doesn't kill me. Run # 5 for the year.

Recently discovered the joys of running. The simplicity and ease is appealing.
Lace up and go.

Using a little proper form makes it easier on my body and lungs.

We will just have to see if I can keep doing it for the long haul. It's pretty tough on the lower body. But the gains on my system are pretty worth while.