Stories of 24 Hour solo and Endurance mountain bike racing

2008-06-07T15:46:00.003-04:00

So it's been a couple of weeks since the last post and the 8 hour. I had a little spill unpacking the car and managed to shred my knee....nothing serious but it sure looks nasty. As bad as I want to say I was going 40km/h down some sweet single track and I went down it just isn't the case....basically fell out of the back of the van and landed on my knee. No impact to riding.

Speaking of riding I have been managing to get a fair bit of it in recently which is nice. The scale has noticed as well. Around 8 lbs in the past 2 weeks. It's a good start. The Keslo O-Cup is this weekend and since it is my home course I thought I'd at least go up and check the course out. I went yesterday late afternoon and took the full suspension with me. Pretty tricky course with just about every rock garden they could find thrown in. It was extremely hot as well....the fire road climb up was brutal, especially when exposed to the sun. Another strange thing were all of the inch worms. Tons of them....so many you could hear them hitting the leaves on the ground. It became a little frustrating when they would constantly land everywhere. The rocks were still a little slick with moisture from the humidity....course was pretty fun overall. I went again first thing this morning but rode up (about 75 minute ride). Was feeling a little tired but wanted to do a little experiment. This time I took the rigid Niner. It is about 5 lbs lighter but of course no suspension. I ended up riding the course about 4 minutes faster than the day before.....probably could have been faster if I was a bit more fresh. I think the lighter weight helped with the long climb as well as the constant acceleration. I didn't find Kelso to have too many high speed sections where the fully would benefit and most of the technical sections were slow so the suspension didn't make much of a difference. Too bad I don't plan to race Kelso, but if I did I'd probably use the Niner.

So I guess I'll have to think about lightening up the Niner even more and making it the short course racing bike. I wonder what I'll use at the 24 hour race?

Steve

2nd Place!

2008-05-25T17:13:00.007-04:00

Well, not for me, but for Noelle in the kids race! More on that later.

The Mansfield 8 hour was this weekend and since I haven't done a lot of riding I really went into it with an open mind just to have fun with complete disregard for results. It was quite refreshing actually.

The morning started in a bit of a frenzy trying to get the car packed. I had to fit 5 bikes into the car plus 2 coolers and a bunch of riding gear etc in the minivan. The neighbour didn't think I could do it but as you can see below it worked. I think I need some bike racks now that everyone wants to bring their bikes to the races.

After a stop at Tim Hortons for breakfast we were off. It has been awhile since I drove to Mansfield and I forgot how far it really is. We rolled in around 9:15am to see the Solo area pretty full. We decided to park in the main area since it was closer to the action anyways for the kids. We found a bit of a quieter area so we had some space to ourselves so the kids could play without bothering too many people. I went and registered then back to the car to get changed. By the time I changed I could hear Chico say "2 minutes to start". Uh oh. I still needed to take my cooler up to the start area so I would have access to it each lap. It was too heavy for my wife on her own so we walked together. I wasn't even halfway there when I heard "GO". Finally made it to the barn area and put my cooler there, hopped on the bike and started up the hill already a few minutes late. They had already taped it off and there were people everywhere. Nothing like starting dead last! It didn't take me too long to catch the tail end of the group due to the congestion in the singletrack...at that point it was just a passing game. Gradually I was with a group of people that were about the same speed as me and that lap turned out to be one of the most enjoyable with the company. I've been reading a lot of peoples write ups about the race and the common theme seemed to be the difficulty of the course and how technical it was and beat up your body. I'm not sure why but I just didn't find it that way. I actually enjoyed the course quite a bit. Near the end it was getting a little rutted up but that happens anywhere. The thing I liked about the course was the longer gradual climbs vs the short steep stuff like Albion. Plus I didn't find it to be a constant up and down either.

I turned out 4 or 5 laps and then the kids race was beginning so I wanted to watch that and it was a good chance for a break. It was the first time for both kids racing and it was exciting to see them go. They had them in different age groups and each group did a different number of laps. It was a lot of fun to watch and I rode around to different points of the 1.2km course to see them go by. Noelle ended up getting 2nd place in her grouping. It was so great to see....you couldn't wipe the smile off her face all day.

After their race was over I went out for a few more laps. I ended up running into a bunch of people on the course I knew. Jeff & Ryan from last weekends ride. And Craig Barlow who I saw a few times out on the course while he was passing me. At the end of the day I did 8 laps which I was satisfied with. I had a good time. The kids and my wife had a good time and that's about all you can ask for. Below are a few more pictures capturing the day.

The kids had a good time.

So did my wife (I think!)

Last lap

Anyways, the 24 hour should be interesting. I'll probably go into it with the same perspective and see what happens. Hopefully I can get some more riding in between now and then and be in slightly better condition....we'll see.

Steve

2008-05-19T18:05:00.003-04:00

Did a 5 hour slog in the rain yesterday. A few people were planning a long distance ride in Hamilton and since I usually ride alone for long rides I thought it would be fun to have some company. Plus I've never ridden any of the trails in Hamilton so it would be a good chance to get a look. The forecast wasn't looking too good for Sunday but I kept my fingers crossed anyways and headed out. Met Jeff and Ryan for a 9am start and we were off. Weather was dry but cool and windy. We immediately hit some fast downhill single and double track which was a lot of fun. After about an hour of riding the rain came but it wasn't too bad since we were mostly in the forest and the canopy was keeping us dry. Eventually we had to hit the road for awhile and proceeded to get completely drenched from head to toe. We made it back into the trails but by now they were pretty bad as well so we cut them short to prevent trail (and bike) damage and stuck to the road and gravel paths. There was a fair bit of climbing (from my perspective) and I definitely had trouble keeping up with the other two. Something to work on over the summer. We were near the end of the ride and had the choice of taking the long way with a big climb or take a set of stair up the escarpment to the cars which was the short way. We were all cold so I suggested the stairs but I suspect the riding the climb would have been better. See the pictures below. All in all a really good ride...good training which I need and good company.

Thanks to Ryan for the pictures.

Steve

8 hour

2008-05-14T19:03:00.004-04:00

I'm in for the 8 hour at Mansfield in about 10 days.

Got in an early morning trail ride so at least I'm riding a little so I'm not totally fatigued after only 2 hours of racing. It will be interesting to see how I feel after 8 hours though. I think my kids are going to try the kids race as well and my wife is going to bring her bike to ride around the venue. I want to bring both the rigid and the fully so that means 5 bikes to bring. Not really sure how I'm going to get those all bikes into the car!

2 years ago I finished right about mid pack....if I can do that again I'd be pretty happy.

Steve

Change in plan

2008-05-10T17:48:00.002-04:00

Plans for this season have taken a major change. With a major illness in my family that hit in early March and the subsequent passing a week ago, my focus has been anywhere but cycling. In fact there has been virtually no cycling for 2 months. The past 2 months put a lot in perspective and cycling just didn't hit the radar. I'm trying to move forward now and I'm sure it will be a challenge but I've got a great wife & kids as well as family and friends for a support network. I'm still signed up for solo at Summer Solstice and might even try the 8 hour in a couple of weeks, but it will be strictly for personal satisfaction and not to attempt to make a comeback or anything. I've packed on a few pounds after spending countless days & nights at the hospital but I'm really not too concerned about it. I did get out for 2 hours of riding yesterday and 5 hours today which felt nice.

So if you've wondered why this blog is completely out of date now you know why.

See you at the races....(maybe the 8 hour).

Steve

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo - Arizona

2008-02-23T09:08:00.011-05:00

So after after getting back from Arizona and having a crazy week at work I finally have a chance to document my adventure to my latest 24 hour race.

As you have read I travelled down to Arizona to race duo with my brother in the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo last weekend. I decided to leave from Buffalo since my plane ticket was $270 instead of $600. My flight was leaving at 8:30am on Wednesday morning so I figured I leave nice and early that morning to make the drive to Buffalo which is only about 75 mins from my house. Unfortunately on Tuesday we had a huge snow storm. The question was should I even try to get to Buffalo with the terrible road conditions. I ended up leaving at 3am and started down the QEW which had not been plowed at all. Conditions were horrendous....although you wouldn't know it by the 18 wheelers thundering down the highway at 100km/h. Fortunately the closer I got to Niagara the better the road conditions became. By the time I hit the border, which was completely empty, the roads were completely clear. My next problem was I became lost in Buffalo. I had directions but for some reason couldn't find my exit. After stopping for instructions I finally figured it out and arrived at the airport 3.5 hours after I left.

Things were uneventful after that getting down to Arizona. Flights were on time, my bike arrived and all was good. I did have a flat tire when I unpacked my bike but felt that was nothing too serious. Once thing concerning me a little was my brother was very sick, on the verge of pneumonia, and if he should even ride. We still had a few days before the race and he was on heavy duty meds. We spent the next couple of days getting stuff ready, shopping, picking up the rental etc. We ended up leaving on Friday morning for the race venue which was near Tuscon. Problem was the weather wasn't all that great.

The drive down was nice and as we got closer the mountains surrounding us were quite beautiful.

Unfortunately the most of the white stuff is snow. These weren't the mountains were were riding on but there were very close. The race venue is on a cattle ranch and thus the road is just dirt. Because it had been snowing/raining all night and day the road wasn't really dirt anymore....it was mud.

Cars were fish tailing and going into the ditch. It was a bit crazy. It you didn't have a 4x4 vehicle you were in big trouble as some of the mud was really deep. We got into the venue and managed to get our usual campsite.

We get the same one and it is about 100 yards from the start/finish so a good spot. Here's a pic, as well as what our car looked like after the drive in.

We ended up heading back into town for a decent dinner to get out of the cold and rain. We had some ribs, hung out a bit and then came back to camp and went to bed. By this time it had become quite cold and I had on most of my clothes. The sleeping bag I was using wasn't designed for sub freezing temperatures and that is what we were dealing with. I finally got to sleep only to wake up in the middle of the night needing a bio break. Plus it seemed like something was hitting the tent all the time. I unzipped the tent and went outside. This is what I saw.

Snow. I couldn't believe it. The ground was covered. And so was our tent. To the point it was almost going to collapse. I brushed off the tent, made a few snowballs and then went back to bed. I was freezing at this point....I've never camped in the snow before! When we woke up the in the morning the snow had begun to melt and a few hours later it was gone.

The race began at Noon with the Le Mans start and since Jim was sick I did the run. It didn't go to bad and I started out. Each lap of this course is about 27km long but it is very fast. There is a fair bit of climbing but nothing too steep....mostly gradual. Things were clogged up a bit but overall it was a fun lap. I did virtually the entire lap in the big ring, even the climbing, which was fun, and passed a lot people. I probably finished in the middle of the pack in 1:37. My brother decided he wanted to do a double lap. I wasn't sure this was a good idea but wasn't going to argue with him and off he went. He did manage to do 2 laps but they were long and he was done after that. By the time my next lap came around it was already time for lights! This coures is one course that doesn't slow you down much at night and my lap time showed that with a 1:38 lap. I was planning to pull a double lap but I was freezing at this point and went into the campsite to stand by the fire. I decided since we were only there for fun I was better off to just hang out at the fire and keep warm for the night. We still froze our butts off sleeping, but at least it didn't snow.

I woke up the next morning to a much nicer day that warmed up very quickly. I had a quick bite to eat and went for another lap. Managed to turn a 1:38 this time so my laps were staying consistent which I was happy with. I went back to the site to change into cooler clothes and eat again before doing my final lap. And what a great final lap it was. I felt good, still riding a lot in the big ring, and really having a ton of fun. Final lap time was 1:34....my fastest of the race. I was pleased with myself to say the least....I know I only did 4 laps, but thats over 100km of racing and I got better with time. Given the training I have been doing I hope this means things are looking up for this season. I think we ended up 39th out of 58 teams....not that it mattered since we were down to have fun and hang out.

We packed up and went home to Jim's place that afternoon. I was catching an 11pm flight home so needed to wash bike & clothes, pack bike etc to get ready to leave. Unfortunately I had a really sore throat and by the time my flight left I had a full blown cold. It made for a miserable flight and I had trouble sleeping and blowing my nose at the same time. I finally made it home around 11am on Monday morning. I tried to sleep that afternoon but not much luck at that either. I guess I must have really run myself into the ground between the travelling, the cold weather, and the racing. But it was fun anyways. I would highly recommend this event to anyone looking for an early season 24 hour....it is well run, well attended (1700 riders) and they have a great expo (Mavic, Ergon, Siren, Kenda, Niterider, Light & Motion, WTB, lots of food etc).

I took down my rigid Niner and it performed flawlessly. It was the first time I had it on trails so it took a little bit of time getting used to it, especially on the really rocky areas. There were times I tried to blast through like I was on full suspension and it didn't really work out. Once I adjusted people would drop me on some of the rocky decents but I would be right back on them in the singletrack. The bike just rips on single track and climbing. I was loving it. I'm going to have to figure out the right places to use this bike vs the Asylum for the season this year. One thing I am going to do is lighten the Niner up a little more and put a more comfortable seat on. One other observation is my back didn't bother me at all. I had a lot of trouble with it last season but nothing this race. I suspect it has a lot to do with all of the snow shovelling I've been doing and that has strengthened my core up enough to cover that problem. Hopefully I can keep it up.

That's it. Not sure exactly when the next race is going to be. I'd like to do the 8 hour in May and might do a few shorter ones before. I plan to get a little more regimented with training in the next week or so to really build up to Summer Solstice which is my major focus this year. I'm a little nervous about how I'm going to get the training in as I just received a big promotion at work which is going to take up a lot time. But I was planning a lot of early morning rides so hopefully I'll still be able to fit those in.

Until next time.....

Steve

2008-02-04T16:13:00.000-05:00

Got outside for the first time on the bike in awhile yesterday. I just couldn't pass up a semi-decent day to do some riding. Got out for about 2.5 hours of slushy, partially snow covered riding on the road. Beats nothing though. My biggest problem was my back. After a few too many rounds of snow shovelling from Friday's storm my back was acting up a bit. I think I am going to take it easy to let it settle down since I leave for Arizona in a little more than a week.

Speaking of Arizona it sure is going to be interesting. Weather can be somewhat unpredictable. One year it rained the whole time. Another time it went below zero at night. So you pretty much have to pack for all conditions which is a bit of a pain. I've decided to take the rigid Niner. Part of me wants to take the full suspension and give the new XTR drivetrain a go but the Niner is really well suited to this course with a fair bit of climbing and not much technical terrain. We'll see how beat up I get. Good thing is I'm only doing this as a duo with my brother. Plus we rarely ride throught the entire night so I only expect to ride around 8-10 hours or so. I think I'll be able to handle it.

Maybe I'll even get lots of pictures!

Steve

Motorpacing......a hay trailer?

2008-01-13T13:32:00.000-05:00

I've been getting some good riding in recently. About 10 hours over the past 4 days (in 3 rides). Yesterday was 4 hours and was really good....a little cool when I headed out at 8am but manageable until it warmed up a little bit. The wind was biting but for some reason it really wasn't bothering me too much for the whole ride. This was my climbing route....basically incorporating everything long climb I know of. Makes for a slower ride but hopefully will improve my climbing in the long run. Finished it up feeling pretty good.

Went out again today planning for about 2.5 hours. A little colder than yesterday and a lot more windy. Unlike yesterday where the headwind began the ride (which is what I like), I had the tailwind at the beginning. Once I started working my way back home I realized how strong the wind really was. Luckily just then a tractor pulling a huge trailer full of hay went past me. He was moving at a good pace so I decided to try and hang on. After all it provided great wind protection. It turned out to be a pretty good workout.....I followed him for about 40 mins and got a good work out. Down hills I was braking but on the flats I was getting a good consistent pace....a little faster than I would normally go. Once he turned away I got hammered with the wind and dragged myself home for the remaining 20 minutes....I sure was going slow.

Only about a month to go until the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo.....still trying to decide which bike to take. I'd like to take the rigid Niner as the course is about as perfect as you'll get for this type of bike. But I'm wondering if I'll appreciate the comfort of the full suspension....my back is still getting a little stiff and sore these days.

Steve

2008-01-05T11:57:00.000-05:00

In an attempt to beat some of the rainy weather that was supposed to hit this afternoon I got on my way around 8:30am for what I hoped to be a 3-4 hour ride. Things were going smoothly....feeling pretty good. Roads were clear of snow with only the occasional spot of snow/ice near the shoulder. As I got further north those spots became a little more frequent. It eventually got to the point where I was riding more on snow than pavement. Now normally I wouldn't mind that at all but the problem is there was rutted ice patches beneath the snow. The roads I take are not too busy but when they did come along I had to get even further into the deeper sections of snow and control started to become and issue. Needless to say I eventually turned it around and headed back. On the way back I was pummelled with ice pellets which wasn't too much fun. But I still got 2.5 hours in which isn't too bad and I felt pretty good the whole ride. I just want to get mileage going....not too worried about structure....that will come after Old Pueblo.

2008-01-03T15:55:00.000-05:00

Today I registered for the lottery to get into the Iceman Cometh which happens in November in Michigan. I've read about the race many time on-line and lots of big names come out to race. It is a typical MTB race of about 40KM, not enduro, but it is on November 7 so the weather is always up in the air. But it looks fun. The wife and kids are entered in the Slush Cup (a shorter distance) so it is going to be a family full of racing (I hope). Now I have to see if we get in.

Not too much riding happening these days, but hopefully on the weekend and next week with the thaw. I laid out my training plan which starts in earnest on March 1st and takes me all the way to Summer Solstice. It is pretty aggressive with a mix of of a bunch of different ideas I have gathered from learning about what other people do. We'll find out if it works in late June.

Steve

2007-12-23T10:24:00.000-05:00

Sure is nice to actually be on the bike outside. Two days in a row no less. About 2 hours on Friday. 3.5 hours on Saturday. Saturday's ride was really nice. No too much wind. Roads were clear, but a little wet from melting snow. I ended up getting a little wet from the spray but never got too cold. I started feeling pretty tired with about 45 mins to go. I guess riding this much back to back is something I'll need to get used to again. Hopefully over the holidays. Anyways got home, did a few things with the kids and passed out for 2 hours. I couldn't believe how tired I was. Oh well. Good training....hopefully I can keep it up so I have some sort of conditioning for the 24 hours in the Old Pueblo in February.

I found this old photo from many years ago. Anyone guess from what race it was at? Hint....my best ever 24 hour solo result. Hopefully my form this year will help my replicate that result.

Steve

2007-12-08T16:14:00.000-05:00

Went away all last week to San Diego for work. Now that is the place to ride. Weather was amazing. Flying in I could see trails going for miles. Pure heaven. Unfortunately I barely saw the light of day with the seminars I had to attend. But I did come home with a new gadget called the HP iPaq 510 smartphone. Should be fun to play with.
Didn't get any riding in and of course I came home with cold. Feel awful today. Maybe I'll get something in tomorrow. Going to the Leafs game with my son tonight.....kids night out they call it. For $120 you get 2 Leafs tickets, hot dogs and drinks for 2, plus 4 Marlies tickets. Pretty good deal. Hopefully they win.

2007-11-27T19:35:00.000-05:00

So I was spending one of my favourite past times on MTBR and came across a post about a Shimano skewer snapping while attached to a bike. Turns out certain skewers made after November 1 2005 can fail randomly. Of course I happen to have a set of XT Skewers that might fall into the recall. The problem is they came off a wheelset that I sold with a bike (with different skewers) and I can't remember what version of XT hubs the wheels had. I'm pretty sure they were pre 2005. I don't have the bill for them either. Not sure what to do. 90% sure they are older that Nov 1 2005. Here is the recall for those who have Shimano skewers. It affects a whole range of skewers (only front)....XTR, XT, Dura Ace etc.

http://bike.shimano.com/publish/content/cycle/sac/us/en/news_and_information/news0/front__quick_release.html

In other news, got some solid riding in over the weekend. Got over the flu thing and felt okay riding. A short ride on Saturday and a long one on Sunday. I was slowed down by the Milton Santa Claus parade a bit....I usually cut through town to avoid a few busy roads but ended up in the middle of the parade. I thought about riding along the parade route since I was wearing my colourful red Hammer Nutrition jacket and might fit in....but since I can't do any wheelies I figured I'd be worthless entertainment and found another route to bypass the whole thing.

There's a guy in Oakville who just rides around town all day doing wheelies....he's known by everyone as wheelie guy....maybe he could teach me?

Steve

2007-11-22T15:22:00.000-05:00

Got the flu shot a couple of weeks ago. I have the flu. But it is not completely debilitating, just fever, chills, upset stomach, etc. Only dry heaves. Oh well, weather is crappy outside anyways.

The weekend looks a little better, but the trails will probably be wet so they'll be out unless they are frozen.

Thinking about getting a seasons pass to the Halton Region Conservation Areas which will allow me to ride at Kelso and Hilton as much as I want. I'm not one to go in a back route and ride. I've asked for the family pass for Christmas which basically gets a carload of people in so now all of us can go. We were up at Mountsberg a couple of weeks ago to do research on the Snowy Owl for a project and took a bunch of pictures. I really liked this one in particular of the eagle. All of these birds are rescue birds. Also, nice thing about Mountsberg is they have a couple of bike trails which are perfect for the kids....about 10km long which is just right. The pass gets us in here as well. Lots of good hiking too.

2007-11-18T17:36:00.000-05:00

Got in a good ride today. As an experiment I decided to ride the exact same route I did last Sunday which was on Cyclocross tires. Those tires had a tremendous amount of wear on them after just a couple of rides so I have put on the Kenda Small Block 8 which is what I have used in the past. I thought the cross tires would roll a lot faster and be lighter which would increase my speed, but last weekends ride made me wonder if that was really the case. So I got the Kenda's on got on my way. It was pretty chilly today but at least the sun was out which always makes for a good ride. I had on quite a few layers and was drenched when I got home, but I was warm during the whole ride. So last week the route I did took me about 4 hours and 15 minutes. This week was good. I left around 11:30am and had a tailwind for the first half of the ride. Unfortunately the first half is where all the climbing is so I don't benefit as much as if it was on the 2nd half (like last week). I didn't check my time at all during the ride but about 3/4 of the way through I could really feel myself slowing down with a combination of the wind and fatigue. When I finally got home I was really surprised to see that I had finished at 3:25 which means I did the ride in 3 hours and 55 minutes which is 20 minutes faster than last weekend. So I think the Kenda's are definitely faster than the cross tires. I think that makes up a large portion of the time difference....maybe I was feeling better as well although I didn't feel like it. So the Kenda's will be staying on now, maybe I'll save the cross tires for the Paris to Ancaster race....but then again the Kenda's would probably still be faster.

Steve

A little chilly

2007-11-17T17:07:00.001-05:00

Sure is cold today. I'm not a big fan of the cold....I'd much rather deal with 100 degree heat personally. Anyways, Santa Claus parade in Oakville was this morning so everyone bundled up and headed out for the 9am start. It was pretty good this year....not too many Shriners this time. After the parade Evan and I headed over to the LBS to pick up a couple of things....a neck warmer and a Knog tail light. The Knog is really cool and just what I have been looking for. Some of my rides have stretched into dusk lately and I want to make sure I am visible.

Once Sue & Noelle got home from the craft show I headed out for about 2 hours on the Niner. Man I am really liking this bike. Hopefully I'll get a nice long ride in tomorrow too.

Steve

Picture of the Niner

2007-11-12T16:48:00.000-05:00

A picture of the new Niner.

Got the cockpit all set up now. It is identical to the Asylum. Someone suggested I put a single chainring on the front...next thing he'll tell me to turn it into a singlespeed! I like it the way it is....just need to put on some bigger tires!

Steve

2007-11-11T20:04:00.000-05:00

I was asked by someone what 260 days meant the other day. It was 260 days until my first 24 hour solo race in 2 years which will be the 2008 24 Hour of Summer Solstice. I'm signed up and confirmed. I needed to do that as part of a goal to start training. I have the migraines under control and I think I am ready and committed. I took all of 2007 off from racing (apart from Pauls Dirty Enduro) and most of 2006 off as well. But I am ready. Bought another bike (pictures to come) to help get things going. It will serve as a training bike, back up 24 hour bike, and occasional short course racing bike. I'm also planning a full schedule of racing besides this one 24 hour. Other races I am planning:

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo (in Arizona in February) - Duo with my Brother
24 Hours of Hot August Nights - Duo with Dave
The Ontario Cup series - my daughter wants to race peewee so I'm going to race too
Pauls Dirty Enduro
Maybe some 8 hour races - duo or solo

I've set some personal goals for these events as well as a few other things. I'm not planning to post them....just for me to know right now....if I make them I will post! But I am trying not to take things to seriously. No sponsors, no pressure, nothing....just fun training and racing....the way it used to be many years ago.

To get things kicked off I had hoped to take my new bike our for a ride yesterday. The parts were delivered on Friday night and I planned to get it built right away. I purchased a Niner EMD9 Frame, White Brothers Rock Solid Fork, XT Crank, post, and stem...the rest was either coming off my other bike or I already had as spare parts (i.e. spare wheelset). I did also purchase new XTR shifters, front derailleur and rear derailleur but those went on the Asylum which is my full out race bike. Back to the Niner....as I was putting it together everything went well until the front derailleur....it was a hand me down from the Asylum and was a high clamp...unfortunately I needed a low clamp for the Niner. I got everything else done and then went to the bike shop on Saturday to pick up the right derailleur. We ended up going to watch a UCI Cyclocross race afterwards so no riding (other than a short ride with my son) was done but that night I finished assembling the bike.

Today, Sunday, finally got out for a good ride. Weather wasn't that nice....cold, windy, overcast....just the conditions I dread. I ended riding for 4 hours 15 mins though which was longer than I thought I would. I realized I still had a bit of work to do setting the cockpit but think I have it sorted out now. I also put on cyclocross tires thinking they might be faster than my Small Block 8's because they would be lighter and have less rolling resistance. I just picked up whatever the shop had and they are a bit on the knobby side. Not sure if I was going any faster or not....didn't feel like it. I'll have to do a few of my routes with them and time it. Then do the same routes with the SB8's and see. I don't really like the look of the cross tires on the bike....just looks disproportionate.

A long update but a lot going on recently. Hopefully more to come as I starting riding more.

Steve

It has begun

2007-11-05T11:53:00.000-05:00

The countdown has finally begun.....260 days.

Bad luck continues

2007-07-08T10:33:00.000-04:00

Road the St. Helena Rd trails yesterday....super technical and difficult. To ride these boulders, drop offs etc you should really have a free ride bike, 2.3"+ tires, and a lot of nerve....none of which this rider posess. At least I didn't crash and break anything....but I did walk about 25% of the trail.

Then last night there was some water on the kitchen floor from the dogs drinking water. Slipped on that, hit the floor and busted a couple of fingers.

2007-07-01T16:51:00.000-04:00

Went for a nice ride today. It had absolutely no purpose other than to just ride. No time limit, no speed to worry about, nothing. Just 4.5 hours on my mountain bike contemplating life. I did the route I usually do on my road bike which is 100km long. Haven't done that route since last fall. It was really nice. That's my outlook right now....ride just to ride....not for any other reason.

2007-06-29T20:10:00.000-04:00

Well, I had a very interesting doctors appointment recently. But it answered so many questions.

It all goes back to June 2005. In the best shape of my life. Putting in huge mileage, riding 2 a days, hammering friends into the ground that used to drop me. It was like a dream. I was planning a full assault of the endurance circuit. First big race was the 24 hour that June. I had a great month in May putting in over 3000km's of training and in June was beginning my taper about 2 weeks out. Exactly 2 weeks before the race I did a huge group road ride...in the rain.....and I crashed...and I hit my head. Didn't think too much of it, a little woozy for a few minutes but was able to continue on. 2 weeks later started the 24 hour. 1st lap, 40 mins in, totally flying, hit a downhill rock garden and went over the bars taking the full impact on my head and right shoulder. Looking back I was totally out of it wandering around the course. My shoulder was wrecked (which is still a problem to this day, but I can live with it), my race done, and off to the hospital. Actually last weekend I was talking to the safety guy for the 24 hour and he said my story actually made it into a magazine about the worst crashes they've ever seen....I was honoured....if they only knew how bad it was.

I've never been the same since. Migraines became the biggest problem, especially over the last 12 months. That led to difficulty training, some weight gain (or inability to drop winter weight!) etc. 3 catscans later and still nothing to tell (other than only rocks in my head for every wanting to race 24 hours solo!). Finally got in to see a neurologist as the migraines were getting worse. She said the 2 concussions (mostly the 2nd) triggered everything (I never used to get migraines ever). She said most people genetically will have the possibility of getting them or not....and sometimes a trigger is needed to start them up. Mine was the severe crash. She said most of my issues stem from all of this (including neck/shoulder problems). So I am glad to finally have some sort of diagnosis and some medication to hopefully solve the problem. Seems like there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I might get things back to normal. I'm not sure what this season still holds at this point....just taking it one day at a time as the medication can take 3-4 months to really start making a difference. But I hope it is sooner, I can starting riding more, and kick things off with a bang at the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo in February. I'm a bit disappointed with how the season has been going and don't like to let down the people and companies who support me, but I'm doing my best and even if the results don't show it I still get great opportunties to talk up product. So thanks to all of you.

Steve

24 Hours of Summer Solstice

2007-06-26T12:37:00.000-04:00

Raced at the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice this past weekend and had great fun. It felt a little strange doing it on a 5 person team when all I have done is solo's (and one tag) in the past 4 years at this race. Since training has been a little sketchy this year and a bad back (put it out in early May) it was probably best just doing the team thing.

I was 3rd in the rotation and the team had a little internal competition.....slowest average lap (of 4 laps each it turns out) hosts the team BBQ....so we had a little motivation.

My 1st lap I went out hard. Started out in the Dog and tried to keep it there for as long as possible. That lasted until the Sugar Shack climb and popped it into the middle ring for awhile. Shortly after that section we made a left hander to go over a wood bridge. This bridge had some boards that were about 2 inches higher in spots running parallel to the bridge. My tires got hung up on the them and down I went. I managed to save it somewhat and my bike took most of the blow. I regrouped and got going again. There were only a couple of semi-long climbs, but long enough to remind me I'm not good at them. Finished that lap in 59 minutes.

2nd lap I figured would be slower than the first. I went out in the dog again but put it in the middle earlier on and left it there for longer. There were plenty of double track sections with begged for it and I complied. I could feel that I was going slower on the climbs, but felt like I might be doing the singletrack a bit faster than the 1st lap. The last 2 or 3km of the lap are really fast. I looked at my watch and I was making good time so I hammered as hard as I could. Amazingly, I finished that lap in 59 minutes...same as my first. I was really happy to be able to do that.

My next lap was a full night lap. I strapped on the Princeton Tec Switchback lights and got going. It was really dusty for sure. I had several bobbles...mostly missing my line and hitting the deeper sandy bits which slowed me down but all in all turned in a respectable 1:10 for my night lap.

Lap 4 started at 5:45am. I had only slept about 2 hours at this point so was pretty tired. My back had been on the fringe of being problematic for the first 3 laps but I was able to keep it under control. Not this lap. Early on it was very problematic....especially on the climbs. Then I started having pain shooting down my right leg....I started pedaling mostly with my left leg at that point. It was sheer agony. Really slow climbing....taking it easy on the flats and trying to stretch it out. The end of the lap was a welcome sight. Finished the lap in 1:10....same as the night lap...not as bad as I thought.

Now at this point I thought I was done for sure. We knew the whole team would go through 4 rotations, but 3 riders would still need to do a 5th lap. No way it was going to be me. Well....never say never as I was guilted/pressured...whatever you want to call it...into doing a 5th lap. At least I had the honour of the final lap of the race. I did a bunch of stretching and massaging and popped some Advil....all which ended up helping. It was a really slow lap (1:13) but the pain was okay. I chickened out of the mud pit....there was just no way it was going to happen (although one of my teammates did it and won a t shirt).

All in all the race was a good time. Totally different experience that doing it solo. I haven't decided what I prefer but this was a nice change. The August 24 hour is 2 months away. I haven't signed up and won't make a decision until the last minute. Need to see if I can get some quality riding in and get my back pain under control before I commit to that.

Some positives did come out of this race. I wasn't the slowest. I didn't get hurt. My laps were more consistent than I expected. I even did a couple of laps faster than Dave (one of my goals at the beginning of the year). Now I don't think I am faster than Dave....he was sick this past week and had some bad luck....but I'll still count it as a goal reached!

The family is going away next week so I might get in some sort of training camp if all goes well. We'll see.

Until next time...

Steve

2007-05-26T16:46:00.000-04:00

Well I did the epic 8 hour today. No not the race, but my own version of it. Actually it only lasted 7 hours but still it was a pretty good ride. Did lots of exploring. Headed into the St. Helena Rd section of the trails to see if I could figure them out. I couldn't. But did some decent trails. Then went in the back way to Hilton Falls and proceeded to get lost for about 2.5 hours. It was fun...I wasn't actually in Hilton for most of the time....it was the agreement forest that is connected. It got a bit frustrating trying to get into Hilton....seemed like I was constantly doing circles. But still did some great trail that was super rocky technical. It is really amazing how the 29" wheels help with that stuff. I never used to be a good technical rider but I have more confidence with this bike and was able to ride the majority of sections. Eventually exited Hilton and went over to Kelso. I was at about the 5 hour mark by this point and getting a little tired. Managed to ride up the escarpment and did every trail at Kelso which only too about an hour. Then headed home which took another hour. Overall it was a pretty good ride....especially in Hilton. Rode much of the trail in my big ring with the exception of a few really rocky areas. But I felt like I was motoring along most of the time which was fun.

Going to get out to one of the Tuesday night races soon. My son is doing the kids race at the 24 Hour so I want him to have a go at the course he will be riding. He's doing really well for being only 6 years old. We're hitting singletrack behind the house and he is handling it really well. Biggest thing he needs to work on is slowing down for the corners....we've had more than one crash from taking it too fast, going wide, and clipping a tree. He always gets right up and keeps going. So much fun....my prodigy!

Steve

2007-05-21T19:36:00.000-04:00

Long time since the last post. New job keeping me pretty busy and limiting my riding time to the weekends right now. But since the mornings start early now I'm thinking of trying to get out for some early morning rides for 1.5-2 hrs. Maybe to some sprint and interval stuff. We'll see. I've been getting lots of riding in on the weekends though. Last weekend did 3.5 hours Saturday and Sunday. Also got in a 5 hour ride today, although I was starting to feel pretty tired from the Saturday ride. Speaking of the Saturday ride....I took out my Cervelo road bike...and decided that is the last time I am going to ride it. It's officially up for sale. I just am not enjoying riding it at all. I just think about wanting to ride my mountain bike instead. So I've put it up for sale on Canadian Cyclist classifieds: Here are the details:

2005 Cervelo Soloist Team 56cm (anno black frame)
Dura Ace Shifters
Dura Ace front and rear derailleur
Dura Ace Brakes
Dura Ace Cassette
FSA Carbon Team Issue Crankset
Cervelo Carbon Aero post with SLR XP saddle
FSA handlebars
Carbon stem

Asking price is $2300 which is a pretty good price for top of the line bike and components.

So what am I going to do with the money? Build a hardtail with a carbon rigid fork. Going to put the old King wheels on it with the XT disc brakes I had. Then I am going to move the current drive train on the Asylum over to this bike. I plan to buy the new XTR shifters and derailleur for the Asylum. I've had the old stuff for a really long time (about 6 years) so it was time for some new stuff. It still works well and will go with the hardtail.

Anyways, that's the plan....as long as the Cervelo sells. If you know anyone who might be interested just have them post a comment with contact info.

Steve
Easton Circuit wheels with

2007-04-25T17:57:00.000-04:00

Got out for another ride yesterday. 4 hours this time. Rode up to Kelso, did most of the trails, then rode home. The trails were in pretty good condition for this time of year. Still a few trees to be removed and some debris on the trail from broken branches etc. Almost went down a few times on some corners that had small pieces of branches on them....they act like rollers and completely throw you off track. Got home and a few hours later my rear tire was flat. Had a 1 inch thorn straight through the tire. I'm surprised I even made it home. Weather isn't looking too good for the rest of this week so not sure how much riding I'll get in. Probably good to have some extra time....we have the "big" garbage on Saturday. You can throw out anything you want (except for metal items....that is a separate pickup) including tables, dressers, couches, toys...anything. It is a garbage pickers dream....good thing because our garage is pretty full of junk that needs to go.

Still haven't signed up for the 8 hour at the end of May....starting to reconsider doing it solo. Maybe 2 man?

Steve

2007-04-22T21:18:00.000-04:00

Put in the longest ride of the season on Saturday. Rode into Toronto from Oakville to meet Mark for a ride in the Don. It was really the first time out on the trails this year as well. Everything worked well including the new Industry Nine wheels and Kenda Small 8. I had the tires pumped up pretty hard because I was doing all pavement into the City (takes 90 minutes), but they had great traction in the trails as well. I think I am really going to like these tires. Anyways, found Mark downtown and we headed up to the Don trails which were in great shape. No mud, but still tacky...great conditions. Rode North to Sunnybrook then crossed the river and took the flats back down. I was getting a little tired by this time so we started back down to the lake. Mark and I parted ways a little later and I rode home. Total ride time was 6.5 hours. I was originally dreading the ride home a bit but felt better than I thought. Today we took the kids to the zoo but I was a little worried about how my legs would feel, but it turned out okay. Although I don't know if 4.5 hours of walking is ideal active recovery.

So I got a new job and start on May 1. That leaves me a little bit of time to get some good riding in now that the really good weather is here. Training is going to be interesting once the job starts but I still think I'll be able to ride a fair bit. Hopefully I will start the Tuesday night series soon. I won't do the first one as that is my first day on the job....don't think they would be too happy with me saying I need to leave early for a bike race.

Steve

2007-04-15T10:57:00.000-04:00

Got in a great ride on Good Friday with Dave. We started at about 9am and the temperature was about -5 celsius but about -12 with the wind (about 30km/h). Oh ya, it was a blizzard to when we left. It's a good thing he came out or there would be no way I would have ever gone on my own. We ended up riding right on 5 hours and I must say my feet were just about frozen by the time we got back. It was pretty fun though....longest ride of 2007 so far. Dave was dropping me on the longer climbs which really was no surprise. But I didn't feel completely exhausted at the end which is a good thing.

Got in about 3 hours yesterday....really good ride down in the trails/paths of Erindale Park which was fun. Got totally lost but wasn't worried about it....just having fun getting a solid ride in since not much happened during the week on my vacation due to weather and a couple of other things going on. Hopefully better conditions will be coming our way in the next couple of weeks....I might have some extra free time on my hands.

Still screwing around with the race schedule this year. I was hoping to do the Boler Mountain 12 hour in July again but I found out they moved it to the weekend before the 24 Hour in August so that probably won't work. I might just do the 8 hour at Hardwood that month. What I am looking forward to is the Tuesday night race series....should do wonders for my speed. Many years ago when I had one of my best seasons I put in lots of base in the spring but then really only raced during the season. Usually every weekend and the occasional race during the week. Basically I raced my way into shape. I hope to do a little better than that but hoping some extra racing will improve some of my weak areas....namely short term speed.

They are here!

2007-03-28T19:09:00.001-04:00

Industy Nine wheels arrived today! They look great. Got the tires mounted up and put them on the bike. Also got some nice Salsa red skewers to go with the red hubs. Here are the pictures.

2007-03-27T16:26:00.001-04:00

Got in a bit of riding over the weekend. Kids had birthday party and lessons etc. Started out late in the day Friday and went for a hard ride for about 3.5 hours. Maybe a little too hard as I bonked for the last 30 mins. Probably because I didn't eat anything and just drank water. When I got home I could barely stand....you may know what I am talking about....searing pain shooting through all the muscles in my legs. I slept well that night.

Decided not too ride Saturday as I was still a bit sore plus I had a few saddle sores that needed tending to. Planned to ride Sunday early. Got up, ate, dressed and rode for about 5 minutes before turning back when I realized that since I can barely see 10 feet in front of me from the fog and thus cars probably can't see me. Ended up going to the zoo and walking around for 3 hours so at least I got some exercise. Gotta shed this extra winter weight.

Getting anxious for the Industy Nine wheels to arrive. I did a bunch of upgrades to other parts such as a new BB (crank brothers), chainrings (race face), cabling (fully enclosed stuff), and of course the Kenda tires. I'm trying to wait for the wheels before I take the MTB out but it is getting difficult only riding the road bike (when my preference is the MTB). Planning a week off right after Easter...the wheels should be here by then and I plan to get in some epic rides that week. Plus I have my traditional 100KM Good Friday ride on the MTB if anyone is interested. I have been doing this for years but had trouble finding anyone willing to test their fitness this early on with such a long ride. Maybe Dave will get out with me one of these days.

Steve

2007-03-27T16:26:00.000-04:00

Princeton Tec

2007-03-24T16:54:00.000-04:00

The new Princeton Tec Switchback 2 & 3 arrived on Friday. I am very impressed.....they are very small and light as you can see from their size in my hand. Burn time is approx. 6 hours on high and the light is very bright. The kit is fully complete with everything you might need: Helment mount, bar mount, AC Charger, Car charger, European plug, extension cord and of course the light and li-ion battery. I can't wait to use these lights. They are available at Mountain Equipment Co-Op (www.mec.ca) in Canada - $254 CDN for the Switchback 2 and $370 CDN for the Switchback 3. In the U.S. they can be found at numerous on-line shops...the one I use a lot is Speedgoat - $250 US for the SB 2 and $370 for the SB3. So they are a great deal in Canada.

Here are some pictures.

2007-03-20T14:25:00.000-04:00

The weather finally looks like it is going to get pretty good this week so some longer rides should be in order. I'm really anxious to get longer rides in but finding it difficult for a variety of reasons. I probably won't start racing in earnest until May....maybe a few fun events like Paris-Ancaster before, but just for fun.

I thought I use this opportunity to mention some of the companies that are helping me out in one way or another this year.

Princeton Tec - www.switchback321.com
Princeton Tec has been a leader for years in outdoor lights and this is their first year venturing into the highend bike light market with their Switchback series. These lights are based on LED technology and already have very favourable reviews. They are a great value for the money with excellent battery life and 3 different offerings. Switchback 1 = 1 LED (great for commuting), Switchback 2 = 2 LEDs (great for the helmet as a spotlight), and Switchback 3 = 3 LEDs (great for the handlebar for a flood light). All get 5+ hours on high using a Li-Ion battery. Check the website for more details.

Castelli - www.castelli-us.com
Castelli are really stepping up their product line this year with innovative, technical new products. They sponsor the Saunier Duval Pro Cycling Team and have some great new products as a result such as the Superleggera Jersey and "Free Bib" shorts. Watch for some reviews on a variety of their items.

Industy Nine - www.industynine.net
I've been lusting for these wheels for while and they finally became a reality. Custom built in the colours and rims you want with an instant engaging hub make for the ideal wheelset. Cheaper than the high end Mavic offerings while still being lighter, stiffer, and more eye catching are just some of the reasons for their success.

Kenda - www.kendausa.com
I've been riding Kenda tires for a long time now. They just released the Small Block 8 in a 29er format so these will be going on the I9's as my hardpack, fast tire. I'll still be using the Karma as my sloppy conditions tire when appropriate even though it is great on the hardpack as well.

Formula Brakes - www.formulabrakeusa.com
I've been using the new Formula Oro K24 brakes for about 8 months now and they have been phenomenal. Excellent feel and power plus pretty light to boot. They also have the Oro Puro which is a slightly lighter version of the K24 with a carbon level and titanium bolts. One step below the K24 is the K18 which just lacks the FCS (Feeling Control System) which allows for adjustment of how far the level travels before the pads engage. A great feature I really like.

I'm also looking at getting the Garmin Edge 305 GPS cycling computer for my mountain bike. This way I can map my routes and actual compare rides to see if I'm progressing faster or slower than previous rides. It also has a heartrate monitor, speed, distance, elevation gain included with it. It looks like a lot of fun and a great training tool.

Stay tuned for reviews of all these great products in the future!

Steve

2007-02-25T17:24:00.000-05:00

Finally got in some decent riding this weekend. Yesterday was a great day. Not too cold and the wind was very manageable. Felt great for the entire 2.5 hour ride. So decided I would go for another ride today. Temperatures were about the same so I decided to do my 3 hour loop. Everything started well and I had a slight tailwind and felt good. About halfway through I was getting a little tired and made my turnaround. Right into the wind. I knew it wasn't going to be fun but wasn't too worried. I got off the dirt roads I was on and would be on pavement the rest of the way home. Unfortunately the wind picked up....a lot. I was getting a little cold, but not too bad. But I was suffering big time. The wind was unrelentless and more than once a gust of wind blew me off the road and on to the gravel shoulder. Then my iPod died. So now I didn't even have music to take my mind off the misery. At some points I was barely making forward progress the wind was so strong. I thought about calling my wife, then started thinking I should flag down a pickup truck, throw my bike in the back and beg for a ride at least close to home. But I finished the ride under my own power. The planned 3 hour ride took almost 4 hours. And it turns out the wind was about 45km/h with 55km/h gusts. I sure am tired now. But 6.5 hrs of riding this weekend is good and hopefully get me on track for more good training.

My new Industry Nine (www.industrynine.net) wheels should be here in another week or two. I'm really looking forward to getting them. I'm going to put the Kenda (www.kendausa.com) Small Block 8's on which should make them fast. Planning to head to the Toronto Bicycle Show next week and hopefully pick up the rest of the stuff I need. If not I'll be ordering from one of the shops in the U.S. I need a bunch of stuff like bottom bracket, chainring set, chain, cables. Plus a few things I'd like to get like new waterproof booties, a new helmet etc. But might hold off on those things.

Last week was 24 hours in the old pueblo....I sure did miss going down there. I'm going next year for sure. Even though I'm never in good shape, it is always fun to just go down for some riding with my brother. Also thinking off going down to Arizona for about a week and a half next year to get some really good riding in on a daily basis (maybe a few weeks after Old Pueblo).

New tires and soon to be new wheelset

2007-01-26T16:43:00.000-05:00

UPS delivered all of my Kenda tires today. I'm looking forward to trying the Small Block 8 to see how they ride. They look really fast.

I got exciting news today and it looks like I will be running Industry Nine (www.industrynine.net) wheels this year. I just have to decide which rim but they will look something like this:

The weather is still really cold and snowy here in Oakville, but looks like it will be about 1 degree on Saturday so I am going to try for an outdoor ride in the afternoon. Riding the spin bike is just no fun.

Steve

2007-01-24T16:00:00.000-05:00

Long time no blog as usual. December and early January we awesome for riding and I was getting in plenty of 3-4 hour rides again. Sadly the weather is back to normal and everytime I want to head outside for a ride it is either way too cold or it has just snowed. So mostly I've been using the spin bike. I got a Spinerval video (Have Mercy - basically 2 hours of intervals and pyramids)...done it a few times but find I prefer to just use the MP3 and crank out my own sessions with a focus on climbing.

Not going to Old Pueblo this year....too many other things happening. It looks like the first race of the year is going to be the Ice Breaker. I'm going to do some 8 hour races. One race I am struggling with is the 24 Hours of Albion Hills in August. I usually do this race solo but not sure I want too this year. I'm also thinking of doing the Shenandoah 100 which is the following weekend so there is no way I can do both. I'll probably wait until August to make that decision.

I just ordered up all of my new Kenda stuff for the season. They released the new Small Block 8 for 29ers which looks really fast so I have a bunch of those on the way. Plus I got some of the always reliable Karma's.

Clothing wise it looks like I will be wearing Castelli product for 2007. I got some of their stuff last year and really liked it. Then managed work something out with them for this year. I am really excited about it. They have a lot of new designs and products for 2007. You can check it out at www.castelli-us.com

Steve

2006-12-01T15:15:00.000-05:00

This blog hasn't been too busy lately and neither has the rider. I haven't ridden much since October, just here and there for the fun of it. The 2nd half of this year was pretty crummy for cycling....bad weather, no time, no motivation. I finally decided to stop beating myself up for it and just take time off the bike. As the new year approaches I am beginning to get the itch to ride again and I'm starting to think about next season. Nothing really solid planned out but I think Solo 24 hour races will take a back seat to mix of 100 milers and "regular" races. I really want to focus on my speed this year and opposed to getting in only long rides. I want to crank out super fast laps (and maybe turn a lap or two faster than Dave) so that is what I am going to focus on. I still love the long rides, but those will only come on the weekends...now I can focus on shorter (ie. 90 mins) rides during the week to work on speed. That's the plan anyways. I've been known to change my mind on occasion.

24 Hour World Solo's

2006-11-01T11:57:00.000-05:00

It has been a few weeks since the World Solo Championships. It has taken me that long to digest what happened. He is a recap:

Thursday: Leave around 8am and drive for 12 hours with the kids (age 5 & 7). Luckily we have a DVD player in there and they are extremely well behaved. We stop somewhere in Kentucky for the night. The drive through Tennessee and Kentucky was quite enjoyable.

Friday: Arrive in Conyers, Georgia around 1pm. Check-in to the La Quinta motel. I call my brother (who is racing as well....he's from Arizona) and tell him where we are and he says it is pronounced "La Keeeenta"....I say whatever...I am Canadian and can say it how I please! We go over to the race site and get our pits set up. Talk to Hendershot for bit and see the Trek guys as well as the other major players. It is going to be exciting. Go to the riders meeting and hear the same story we always do. Some chuckles around the "no collusion" rule....there goes my plan to shadow Eatough for the whole race! :-) We head over to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner which was a mistake (mistake #1). Felt sick the rest of the night and have countless trips to the washroom.

Saturday Morning: Wake up in the morning with a migraine headache. Only brought 1 migraine pill with me and fuss over using it or not. Decided not to (2nd mistake). We head over to Walmart to pick up last minute items and I take a few more trips to their washroom. This isn't good. Get back to our pits and got interviewed by the people doing the 24-Solo documentary about Chris Eatough. I sure hope it makes the movie (I was filmed a few times on course as well).

Saturday Noon: The washroom breaks have subsided thankfully but the headache is still there. How much Ibuprofen can I take at a time? Call up has taken place and I am in the top third of the group to start the Le Mans run. I go pretty hard as I don't want to be last. Things go well until about 3/4 of the way through and I start having trouble. Shouldn't have gone out so hard (mistake #3). I'm not last though (far from it). I hop on the Asylum 29er and head out. Everybody is hammering but I am hanging on. The first half of the course is good singletrack but very bumpy. We head out to the 2nd half of the course....the rocky area. Literally riding on sheets of rock that have little mini pot holes everywhere. It is tough going and keeping momentum is a challenge. Riding along and come to a steep downhill. I see a skull and cross bones....must be a tough drop off but it isn't too bad. After that head straight back up a very steep, incredibly bumpy stretch. I make it about 3/4 of the way up and walk the rest of it. The rest of the lap is pretty uneventful but my time is dismal.

Saturday night - I've been lapped multiple times by the leaders as I mount my light on the bike for the first night lap. My brother and I decide to ride together and it turns out to be a good thing. Half way through the lap (where we pass by close to the pits) his light burns out and my light is almost out. Our 3 hour batteries were lasting 40 mins. We each grab another battery and finish the lap. We put in fresh batteries for our next night lap and sure enough halfway through the lap the lights are out. We head back to the pits....no more batteries left for me. I guess I need a new lighting system (mistake #4). My brother grabs a back up system he brought and finishes the lap. Riding the remainder of the night would be futile so we head back to the hotel for the night.

Sunday Morning: Up at 6am and head back down to the pits. I saddle up...it is a little dark but within about 15 mins it is light enough for no lights (I didn't have one anyways). The race has now come down to my brother and I. He is technically a half lap ahead of me. I got started in the morning first to finish my half lap and then did another lap. He is in the pits. We are tied. I wonder if he will do 1 or 2 more laps. I head out right away and finish my lap just after 11am but hold on to my baton just in case I need to do another lap....I had the energy but wanted to see the winners come across. I go back to our pit and my brother is out on a lap. I go back to the finish line to wait for the winners and he comes through around 11:20am. I don't think he will go for another lap so I watch Chris Eatough come through for 2nd place (poor guy was in tears....I felt so bad for him) and then Craig Gordon come through for 1st (and nearly collapses). It was also cool to see Sue Haywood win. I watched the interviews and then saw my sister in law come by. I ask where my brother is and she said he is on another lap. I look at my watch and think it is 11:45am and I could probably squeeze one more lap in but would need to catch up to my brothers sizeable lead. I am majorlly pissed now and ride back to the pits. Only to find my brother sitting there with his street clothes on. He and his wife thought it was a pretty funny joke and they certainly got me! We had been playing jokes on each other all race (hiding eachothers bikes etc) so he got the last laugh. But I still beat him!

In the end the race didn't go according to plan but I didn't go in with huge expectations. I knew my conditioning was suspect (....I guess that is what happens when you don't ride enough) but I had a great time and thought it was cool riding with some of the stars of this sport.

We packed up on Monday morning and headed to Florida for a well deserved vacation. It was quite eventful as well with the strangest thing happening is me saving the life of a grandma and 2 year old girl from drowning in the hotel pool.

The drive home was awful. We had about 22 hours to cover and drove for about 12 hours the first day with the plan being to stop in Charlotte for the night at 8:30pm. Unfortunately there wasn't a hotel to be found for a 100 miles and we ended up driving until 1am before we found a stinky, smoke filled room with a busted toilet to stay in. The most disappointing thing was having to drive through the Virginia's at night....it is such a nice drive in the daytime. We managed to get home the next day around 4pm and quickly got back to our regular routine.

I have done a few fun rides and plan to get back into the swing of things in a few weeks. Many thanks go out to Wicked Fast Nutrition, Kenda Tires, FSA, Rudy Project and Formula Brakes for supporting me this season. It was a tumultous one but I had a good time none the less.

2006-10-04T18:38:00.000-04:00

So I was supposed to do the Pauls Dirty 100KM a few weeks ago. I had the best of intentions and even woke up at 4:45am to get ready. Unfortunately I woke up to rain and the forcast of thunderstorms. So I nixed the race and went back to bed!

Leaving tomorrow to head down to the 24 hr world solo championships in Conyers Geogia. Getting pretty excited, especially because it looks like they are filming a full on movie about the race and Chris Eatough trying to win his 7th title. Who knows, maybe I might make it into the movie. It's nice to dream anyways.

Race reports to follow a couple of weeks later cuz we're going to Florida afterwards for a holiday.

Steve

Epic Ride

2006-09-11T17:39:00.000-04:00

I went for a an epic 5 hour ride this past weekend. I haven't had so much fun in a long time. I decided to do some exploration on trails I had never done before. To get there I had to ride for about an hour and then go to the trailhead. There were several cars parked but I never saw anyone. The trail started out as ATV double track which was pretty rutted up and full of puddles. Once past this section I came upon the technical track in the Niagara Escarpment. Now I am not one for extremely technical riding but I was committed now so kept going. Things started getting ridiculously rocky but to my amazement I was able to ride about 95% of it. It was liberating! I must have rode this type of trail for about an hour before I came to the section to descend the escarpment. It looked very daunting and I got off my bike to start walking down. Then I started noticing some lines down the steep, boulder strewn, with rocky dropoffs descent. I went back to the top and hopped on the bike and started going down. Much to my amazement I cleaned the whole thing. I was very happy and I owe most of the credit to riding the Asylum 29er. Throughout the whole trail I would just roll over the rocks without a hint of going over the bars or crashing. I am convinced I would have had problems on my old bike and walked much more. It was a real confidence booster. Once I exited that trail I went over to Kelso Conservation Area to check out the Ontario Cup Provincial Championships course but unfortunately it wasn't marked. I did my usual loop and was pretty tired plus I still had to ride home which took over an hour. Got home after the 5 hour ride and my legs were on fire!!! I couldn't even stand so I assume that is the feeling of cramping (never happened to me before). It was painful, but I figured it meant I put in a solid ride. I was supposed to race at the Durham Durango, but I sure am glad I decided to do this epic instead!

24 Hours of Albion Hills

2006-08-22T14:36:00.000-04:00

Raced as a tag team at this past weekends 24 Hours of Albion Hills. It was a fairly large race with about 1400 riders in all catagories. Our goal was to do 20 laps which seemed quite achievable at the start of the race. My partner started out first and turned in a pretty fast 1 hour lap. I went out and suffered a little bit on my first lap. I always do as my body gets used to the riding (read: no warmup) but turned in a respectable 1:03. My partner did one more lap and then I went out for a double lap so he could watch his son in the kids race. The 2nd lap of the double was a bit crummy but I was looking forward to my 2 hour break to eat and rest for awhile. When my partner got back from his double he didn't look too good. He said he wasn't feeling good and was going to stop. I went out and did my next lap (1st night lap) and when I returned he wasn't at our transition area. I rode back to our pit to find him in his street clothes. He was done. I lost motivation after that and took a long break. I was on my own for the rest of the race so decided to wait until morning to go out again. I put in a few more laps and felt pretty good, finishing with a fairly strong last lap. Needless to say we didn't do well but I still had fun and felt good for most of the race. The course was very tough with a lot of climbing involved. The other big problem was it was very sandy due to no rain for a long time. It created really bad ruts on the tight switchback downhills which became difficult to manage at night as it was hard to see them well.

Next race is Pauls 100km in September. I hope to break 8 hours (would be record for me) so I better start working on my climbing again because there is a lot of it on this course.

Steve

24 hours of Albion Hills coming up

2006-08-12T17:07:00.000-04:00

The next 24 hour is coming at Albion Hills on Aug 19/20. Doing this race as a tag team just to mix things up a little bit. Pre-rode the course today doing 2 laps to see what things were like. Pretty good, much different than the June course. Tons of climbing. Should be fun.

Haven't done much riding the past week due to a family camping trip but did a fair bit the weeks prior. My climbing on the road has gotten much better but for some reason it doesn't translate that well onto the trails. Not sure why....probably the style of climbing on the road which is long steady and smooth or short steeps with recovery at the end. MTBing just doesn't afford a lot of recovery like road riding. I guess I should start working on my climbing using the MTB on the trails. Maybe that will help.

Race recap coming after next weekend.

24 Hours of Summer Solstice wrap up

2006-06-27T16:03:00.000-04:00

Another 24 hour race is in the books and while the course was primed and fast, my body unfortunately was not. We got up to Albion Hills around 9am to finish getting set up the remainder of our pit. We were fairly low key and I was fairly relaxed. The whole family but myself had a cold and I had been desperately fighting it so I would be healthy for the race. I had a sore throat for a couple of days but that was it and I felt okay on Saturday. The race start was uneventful except for the fools who think they have the right to pass you when it is a steady line of people in the singletrack. That is the way the 1st lap goes so people need to just settle down a little. I finished the first lap in the middle of the pack but I definitely didn't have the top end speed I would have liked. As the race progressed one thing I noticed was how improved my singletrack riding was. I was consistently catching and passing people in that area, only to be re-passed on the double track and climbs. I attribute much of this to the 29er and the increased confidence it has given me this year. I am taking corners much faster than I ever used to. Here are a few pics of the event:

Getting ready for the start of the race with my excellent support crew.

Coming into the pits

Heading out for another lap.

By the evening I had a full blown cold and no motivation to head out riding. I decided to get a good night sleep and ride again in the morning which I did. I ended up in 23rd place which isn't great (out of 31). I need to get better and then work on improving my speed on the double track sections where I was losing a lot of time.

I've been thinking about doing a 24 hour race in Vermont in July. More for a family getaway (the kids love going to these races!) than anything. I'll probably wait until the week before to make a decision on that.

Steve

2006-06-13T14:36:00.000-04:00

Back from Palm Beach.....bloody hot, but a good time. The highlight had to be the deep sea fishing we did last Monday. We caught some Bonita's and used some of them for bait to catch Marlin or Sharks but didn't have any luck. That's me on the right.

Didn't get any riding in while I was away....finally got a couple of good rides in over the weekend. The upcoming 24 hour should be really interesting. I am going to ride my own race with the goal of no sleeping or major stops. If I can do that then everything else should fall in place. Going to pre-ride the course this weekend and take it easy next week. Full race report after that.

Steve

2006-06-01T14:34:00.000-04:00

I feel fully recovered the 8 hour race now but won't be doing a lot of riding as I am heading to West Palm Beach on the weekend for a mini vacation. Going to do some deep sea fishing and hopefully will catch one of these:

Just a little more than 3 weeks to go until the 24 hours of Summer Solstice comes. I have mixed feelings about the race. I rode well (for me) at the 8 hour but I'm just not sure how the race will go. I had a lot of confidence at this point last but I don't feel very fast or like I have the stamina. I hope I suprise myself.

Here is a cool photo to show just how big the Summer Solstice race is.

Race Report for Epic 8 Hour

2006-05-30T15:22:00.000-04:00

This past weekend saw the Epic 8 Hour at Mansfield Outdoor Centre go off with 750 riders and double that in spectators. The normally sandy conditions were hardened up with a good rain on Friday, making course conditions absolute pefection. Damp hard pack trails made for railing at high speeds, especially on the 29er.
For this race I would be riding unsupported as my normal crew (family) was tied up with birthday parties that day. Once I got to the venue I moved my cooler to the solo area with enough E-Load and Hammer Gel to get me through the whole race. I took enough with me on the bike so I would only need to stop once to fill the Hydrapak in the 8 hours --- this worked out perfectly. I viewed this race as more for training than anything else in preparation for the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice (largest 24 Hour in North America with 2400 riders). I had done many 5+ hour rides leading up to this but needing some endurance “racing” in my legs as well. Plus most of the local cross country pro riders were riding solo so I knew a very high placing would be difficult. 8 hours is manageable for them at their high speed, but I suspect they would have issues going a full 24 hours.

The race began with a long up hill climb with strung the field out, but that didn’t last too long. About ¼ of the way into the lap the first of two technical downhills came up. The first was rather daunting with a low speed 90 degree turn with a 3 foot drop and then steep sandy downhill to the double track. Most walked however I managed to get down the 3 foot drop and kept my speed under control with my Formula K24’s. Right after this section came a quick up hill followed by a root-strewn, off camber down hill which was the 2nd technical area. After someone went over the bars in front of me I hopped off the bike and ran down. Fortunately I was able to ride this section with no issues the remainder of the race. The rest of the lap was fairly uneventful, finishing it somewhere in the middle of the pack.

After the end of my 4th lap I came in for a quick 10 minute break to reload with enough E-Load and Hammer Gel to get me to the end of the race. Things were going a little slower at this point and although my technical riding remained solid I went through a slow 2 hour spell which affected my lap times. Near the end I started building my speed again and felt incredible for the last 2 hours. In fact my last lap I hammered most of the way and had the most fun of the entire race. I felt incredibly fresh and definitely had plenty left in the gas tank which bodes well for the upcoming 24 hour. The Asylum 29er was more fun than I could have imagined and really excelled in the prime course conditions and rooty sections.

In the end I was middle of the pack but approximately 3rd among registered racers for the 24 hour so hopefully I can hold on or improve that position in 4 weeks.

Many thanks goes out to Recover-Ease, Formula Brakes USA, Rudy Project, Kenda, and Cyclepath Oakville for your support. You make it a lot easier to do these crazy races!

2006-05-22T15:20:00.000-04:00

Had a pretty nice ride today. About 4 hours of combined road and singletrack riding at Kelso. On the way up saw a bunch of turkey vultures snacking on some roadkill. Figured it was a possum or bunny as that is what it usually is but sadly it was a tiny, baby deer. That made me sad. Trails were in pretty good shape, damp in most places but very good traction.

Also rode on Saturday on the road bike. The wind is crazy. Got home and found out it was about 50km/h. No wonder I was only going about 22km/h on the way out. But it sure was fun doing 45km/h all the way back. Ended up making for a good ride.

This coming Saturday is the Epic 8 hour at Mansfield. I doing solo with the goal of getting some solid training in to prepare for the 24 hour coming in 5 weeks. I'll be doing the 8 hour unsupported but it should be okay as really I'll just be using my hydrapak and gels for the whole race. Should be fun.

Steve

2006-05-16T16:39:00.000-04:00

Riding isn't going so well these days. Family, work, mothers day, baseball practice, baseball games, bad weather all result in very little riding.

I signed up for the 8 hour at the end of the month. Not sure how I will fair as those tend to be more sprinty than a 24 hour. But I figured it would be good training and help get my nutrition dialed in. I'm contemplating using a hydration pack for this race. Usually I hate them and get back aches, but I won a new Hydrapak which is nice and small. I've been using it for awhile including a few 5 hour rides with no discomfort.

Next update will probably be after the race.

Steve

2006-04-23T17:09:00.001-04:00

Picked up a clearance spin bike yesterday. Should be good for the rainy weather and winter when I don't want to ride outside. It is made by Giant and is heavy as lead. Used it for about an hour today....working on getting it set up properly.

I have my hardtail up for sale now...want to sell it and pick up a 29er single speed. It is only $750 and has a boatload of new parts on it like fork (Skareb Elite), shifters (SRAM X7), brakes (Avid SD7), wheels (XT/517), post (Thomson), rear derailleur (SRAM X7). A steal for anyone. Could be a good parts bike too.

Steve

2006-04-23T17:09:00.000-04:00

2006-04-22T11:47:00.000-04:00

Wrapped up training camp yesterday with what I planned to be the longest ride of the year so far. Planned on riding from Oakville into the city and hit up the Don trails. I like doing this ride because it is a destination that is far away and takes a long time to ride. I did this ride a couple of weeks ago in about 5:45 so figured on about 6 hours of riding by throwing in a few more trails. Ended up doing it in 5:15 so didn't quite get the hours in I was hoping for but on a positive note I guess I am riding a little faster. So I got in about 1000km or 33 hours of riding over the past 2 weeks....it could have been more if I didn't get sick and have to take 4 days off the bike. It should provide a good foundation for the intensity build coming up. I plan to still do plenty of long rides but will start including more intensity very soon. Gotta get more speed and especially improve the climbing.

Steve

2006-04-18T16:51:00.000-04:00

Been getting a lot of quality riding in lately. Did a really nice MTB ride on Sunday for almost 5 hours with lots of trail time. Rode the trails up at Kelso and got a seasons pass. It was the first official day for Kelso, but I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of trail maintenance done. Fallen trees everywhere that needed to be removed. Next time back tomorrow if they haven't been cleaned up I will mention it to the Conservation.

Did an awesome road ride today. Rode my 101km route to do another test of my fitness. Didn't push too hard but didn't take it easy either. Rode it in my 5th fastest time ever which I am happy about (fastest this year by about 15 mins from 3 weeks ago). Plus I still felt strong at the end which is the first time that has happened this year. I think I am well ahead of last years fitness even though I still have some weight to lose. Speed is definitely there, my bigger problem is climbing but only more riding (and weight loss) will improve that.

Looks like I am going to be riding Formula Disc brakes (www.formulabrakeusa.com) this year. They some amazing new offerings that are lightweight and powerful from reviews I have seen. I think I am going to get the Oro Puro which are their lightest offering. Why anyone wouldn't ride disc brakes is beyond my comprehension.

Training camp ends this week but has been good overall and I am looking to keep up and increase the training over the next month or so.

Steve

2006-04-14T12:09:00.000-04:00

So it figures I would get sick right at the start of my training camp. I could feel it coming on last weekend and by Monday it was full blown. Such a shame because the weather has been so good. I decided the best thing was to just stay off the bike and get better. It paid off and by Thursday I felt a lot better and went out for a 3 hour ride up to some local trails. They turned out to be too muddy so just started back and did a few intervals.

It is raining today so just going to take it easy. Thinking about buying a spin bike for days like today and for use in the winter. Plus my wife says she'll use it as well.

Steve

2006-04-08T16:52:00.000-04:00

My version of Training Camp officially began on Thursday. I kicked things off with a 6 hour ride which was awesome but damn my body was sore on Friday. Since it was pouring rain on Friday and I was so sore I decided to just take it easy and recover.

I did the Donut ride today. The Donut Ride is a historic road ride in Toronto which used to begin at a local donut shop (but it is out of business now). It is a huge ride getting anywhere from 50-125 riders in the group. It is large enough that the group takes up one lane of traffic while we head out of the city....even the police leave us alone. This group is super competitive, yet gets so many different levels of riders out. This can make it sketchy at times but overall a fun time. Many local pro riders come out for this ride, even the infamous Michael Barry (Discover Channel) when he is in town. Back to the ride. It was below freezing when we started and my feet froze almost immediately. The ride started out very casual (more so than usual) and I thought it would be a mellow ride. Once we got out of the city it didn't take long for things to speed up and soon we were doing 45km/h into the wind and my legs were screaming. I held on for awhile but eventually gave up when a small break in the peleton occured. With the wind so strong once the group splits it is very difficult to get back. I ended up waiting for my friend who was in a group further back. At the halfway point we stopped at Mama's Bakery (the usual stop) and I had the best cup of Hot Chocolate ever. Unfortunately when we left to ride again I was so wet that I got very cold. We decided to take it easy the rest of the way....luckily with a tailwind all the way home.

I'm still debating on a ride tomorrow...probably depends how I feel as I don't think I was fully recovered from Thursdays 6 hour marathon when I went out and pushed to the limit today. Might just take it easy or perhap a short 60 min ride. The weather is supposed to be really good the next 2 weeks so I plan to get lots of riding in, particularly on the trails to hone my technical skills.

Steve

1st "Race" of the season

2006-04-02T16:02:00.000-04:00

So I decided to make a last minute decision and do a local race called the Hilton Falls Time Trial. The course is a mixed of high speed fire road and low speed very technical rock garden sections. I've been battling a stomach bug the past few days but with the weather being so nice I decided to participate anyways.

The first real race of the season is always a bit nerve racking but I was surprisingly calm. I didn't have any real expectations of the race so that must have contributed to my casual attitude. I did a short warm up and then waited for about 20 mins for my number to be called. They were starting riders off in 30 second increments. They called me to the line and I was off. The course immediately begins with a short climb that gets very steep at the end. To my surprise I got to the top of the climb and could see my 30 second rider (#171 - remember this number) just up ahead. The course flattened out and I was now chasing. In a few minutes I caught and passed him. From there on it was all about catching people. The Asylum was going well and I could feel the momentum of the 29" wheels really carrying me through the corners and flying over roots and rocks. After awhile I hit the first of many rock gardens. Some of them rideable, some not (by me anyways). In many cases it was faster to run than ride as there were many moments the terrain was practically unrideable. Still a lot of fun anyways. I had passed about 7 or 8 people now and hit the last few double track sections. I was absolutely flying and passed some other riders alarmingly fast. The legs were starting to burn at this point but I knew I was near the end and wanted to finish strong. I came through the finish line and was happy to be done and thought I had placed fairly well.

We waited around for awhile to get the results and when they were posted I was stunned (in a bad way). Results showed I finished in 13th place....strange thing was my time was many mins slower than what I timed. Also #171 (who started 30 seconds ahead of me which I then passed 3 mins into the race) finished 5 mins ahead of me and in 8th place! Something was definitely up. It turns out there were a few recording errors and some riders who finished, then turned around for a warm down, thereby coming through the finish line again and getting 2 times recorded. It all ended up with me finishing in 6th place. I still think they got the results wrong and I should have been about 5 mins faster than the have but there isn't much I can do about it now. I'm still quite pleased with this result given my training is only starting to get into high gear.

Training camp begins later this week for about 2.5 weeks, then it is the first Ontario Cup of the year. Hopefully I can do even better at that race.

Steve

2006-03-30T22:20:00.000-05:00

Got my mini time trial in on my favourite route with the intention of comparing my fitness to last year. As mentioned I am about 7lbs heavier right now so my climbing is still suffering quite a bit. Hopefully in a month or so the climbing will improve. The weather was nice but had a head wind 3/4 of the ride which was a bit demoralizing. I had set a target in mind but wasn't able to reach it with the wind (and fitness I am sure). The good news is I did the route 27 minutes faster than this time last year (a little bit more than 100km). I must have been pretty slow last year because I sure don't feel very fast right now.

The trails are pretty much dry now so I hope to put the Asylum through it's first real trail test this weekend. Depends on how much rain we get.

Steve

2006-03-29T16:53:00.000-05:00

The weather has been awesome lately so finished work a little early yesterday and did a HUGE ride. I ended up riding for about 5.5 hours and got in about 145km. Didn't quite think I would go that far but it just happened that way. I was pretty tired afterwards but happy I was able to make it. The next plan is to ride my 100km route on the road bike for a test of fitness. I will then compare to where I was last year to get a good indication where I stand. I know I am about 7lbs heavier now than last year but think my fitness might be a bit better. We'll find out soon enough.

Steve

Mission Accomplished

2006-03-27T17:08:00.000-05:00

Got out for close to 4 hours yesterday....so 3 days in a row of hard training. It wasn't until about the last half hour that I really started to fade. I felt really good and seemed to be putting the power down. I was able to keep up with some roadies (I was on the 29er MTB) so that was kind of nice. Legs were pretty sore last night and this morning but this afternoon they feel fine. Should be up for some more training this week. I've really got to lose some of this winter weight....it is starting to worry me.

Looks like the Icebreaker race yesterday was just that with a whole lot of mud included. Glad I didn't go....to messy for my liking.

Steve

2006-03-25T15:41:00.000-05:00

I've been getting a fair bit of riding in lately including some back to back days. Typically I'm logging 2-4 hours each ride now which is good. The Recover-Ease stuff is working quite well. Got a solid 2.5hr fast paced ride in yesterday and then went for another 3 hours today and felt surprisingly good. Planning for 4 hours tomorrow which will be interesting to see how things go as the 3rd ride in succession. I have been using the Asylum primarily trying to get used to it. I am thoroughly enjoying it but really want to do some trails soon. I'll probably pull the road bike out soon, maybe when the temperatures get a little warmer.

I am planning a 2 week training camp in April, not sure of the weeks yet...work will determine that. Some restructing is happen and want to make sure I am around to understand what is going on. My hope for the training camp is to do 3 days "on" (100km+/day) and one day "off" (or recovery ride). That should get me about 50 hours on the bike which should really help bring up my base fitness. I think it is already okay, but want to get into the 4hr+ range and still have some energy at the end which isn't always happening right now. Plus I should loose the rest of my winter weight which will be good.

I am thinking of doing the first O-Cup at the end of April, but first we'll see how the training camp goes....it will probably be a last minute decision that will also be determined by the weather. I can't stand riding in wet weather and will avoid racing if I have depending on the conditions.

The first goal of the year is the 24 Hour of Summer Solstice in June. If I can get my fitness to where it was last year at that time or even better then I should have a good race. Second goal is the World Solo Championships in October (in Georgia). I haven't done this race in a long time but have always wanted to ride in Georgia and since I can drive down the expenses can be kept low. My last major goal is to hold onto my form for the Old Pueblo race in February. I really want to do well in that race but so far training just hasn't gone as well as planned. I am going to invest in some quality winter clothing and also get a set of rollers....I am really going to commit to keeping up 3-4 hour rides 4 times per week during the winter. That should help tremendously. That's the plan anyways.

Steve

2006-03-12T18:44:00.000-05:00

New frame arrived this past week. It is an Asylum and it is a 29er full suspension. I am pretty darned excited. Got it built up and went for a short ride and it felt pretty good.

I got some quality training in this weekend for a change. Saturday was a ride with Mark on the MTBs. Trails were too muddy so we stuck to the paved paths. The loop we usually do takes about 3.5-4 hours and I was looking forward to getting the time in. Unfortunately Mark didn't have the legs and about halfway through we had to take some short cuts and head back. Mark's fitness is always a strange thing. There are always a few rides where he suffers like a dog and usually gets dropped. Then one day he miraculously can hold on and be one of the stronger riders. I sure wish I could turn my fitness on that fast.

Sunday (today) was another MTB ride (alone) on the paved paths. I felt pretty good and was out for about 3.5 hours. I started to fade near the end, but overall it was a good ride. I am taking the Recover-Ease now and I think it definitely helped me ride strong for the ride as I was well recovered from yesterday.

I'm hoping to get a few good rides in this week, work permitting as I won't be able to get out next weekend and the few days after it because the boss is going to Cancun with her sister so I'm on my own with the kids. I've tried to convince them to take a taxi to my parents next weekend for dinner so I can ride in but they won't go for it! Just kidding.

The first race in Ontario is the last weekend of March and it is called the Icebreaker. Depending on the temperature it will be a mudfest which I am not interested in. If the temp is around freezing I might consider it as the ground should be relatively frozen for the race. Otherwise, I'll have to wait until April.

Steve

2006-03-06T11:33:00.000-05:00

Went to the Toronto Bike Show this past weekend. Not as good as years past in my opinion. I wasn't looking for a new bike, but did want some parts if possible but there wasn't much. I did pick up a pair of Specialized Pro MTB shoes (list $379) for $189, and a new rotor for my brakes but that was all.

Got a nice road ride in this weekend and will be focused on getting out on the road more now that the weather is getting nicer. In fact this weekend is supposed to be very warm...almost shorts warm. I can't wait.

So I'll be on a new bike this year....I am making a major change which I am really excited about. Anyone want to buy the Turner Burner frame? It is up for sale.

Steve

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo

2006-02-25T18:28:00.000-05:00

Got back from the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo earlier this week.....it was a tough race for many reasons.

I arrived in Phoenix on Wednesday night to find out my bike was not on my flight....even though the rest of my stuff made it. I wasn't surprised, but definitely frustrated. The agent told me it probably would be on the next flight arriving in 2 hours and that I could wait for it or they would send it to me the next day. The shame is I was offered a free roundtrip airfare if I had given up my seat and taken the later flight. Luckily my bike did arrive on the next flight.

Most of Thursday was spent preparing to head up to the race. I put my bike together, purchased all of my food etc and then my brother and I went and hit up some of the local trails. I am definitely not in the same shape I was last year, but I still felt pretty good out on the trails and was able to maitain a decent pace throughout the 1 hour ride.

We left for the race (in Tucson) on Friday morning and when we arrived we set up camp in our usual spot which is fairly close to the start/finish, but not right on the course. That evening we attended a dinner in honour of Tinker Juarez, a legend in mountain biking and 24 hour racing. The event was held in a beer tent....Mexican food was on tap along with beer. I didn't indulge in much of either. It was quite loud in there, kind of like a bar, and I found myself almost screaming in order to talk to others. Once the dinner was finished we went back to our campsite to have a good night sleep in 0 degree weather. Unfortunately I didn't have a very good sleep.
My voice had become quite hoarse and sore from the event but I figured it would clear itself up by the next morning. But during the night my nose started to run and my throat got even more sore. Damn, I had a cold. I barely slept the whole night....maybe 2 hours tops.

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and prepared to race. I was still sniffly and had a sore throat which made me worried. What was even worse is the the fact that Tucson hasn't had any rain since October so the coarse was very dusty. Not great for someone who has a cold and suffers from Asthma.

The race began with the usual LeMans start which was okay and we were off. The first lap diverts from some of the normal singletrack and takes people along a fireroad for awhile. Early on we hit the worst part of the course. The Bitches. Literally, they are called the 7 Bitches. Steep up followed by very fast downs.....7 in a row. By the last one you are hating it. I must have seen 10 people in a row changing flats after that 7th one. There are tons of rocks just ready to give you a pinch flat. The rest of the lap was fairly uneventful. I finished that lap exactly in the middle of the pack but I was already in trouble. My breathing was bad and I could barely swallow. That's what happens when you inhale dust for 83 mins. Still, I went straight out for my 2nd lap but as soon as I hit the bitches I was done. No power, could barely breathe and just suffered the whole time. The 2nd lap took me 30 mins longer than the first. After that lap I went back to the campsite and figured my race was done. I was freezing cold so started a fire and just tried to feel better.

I slept a little better on Saturday so when I woke up on Sunday morning I decided to ride a lap. It was a pretty good lap at 1:27. Almost as fast as my first lap (1:23). After that lap I went to the campsite and decided to stock up with enough water and gels to get me through 2 more laps. I wasn't committed to doing 2 more laps, but wanted the option. As I went out I was still feeling pretty good. I still wasn't feeling well but my breathing wasn't bothering me as much. I decided that if I could do this lap in under 1:30 I would go for one more. I pushed myself a little to see how it would go. It was not too bad at all. I finished that lap in 1:29. So I met my goal and was ready to go for another lap which would be my last. It was 11:15am at this point so I figured I would shoot for a reasonable 1:45 and finish by 1pm. I downed a few packs of CarbBooms and was off.

BOOOOOM. Thats how I felt when I hit the bitches. My breathing was bothering me a bit, but mostly I think my fitness is what let me down this time. I paid the price for those 2 fast laps. I blew up and dragged my sorry ass around the course and finished about 10 minutes after 1pm. On the positive side I never used my granny ring and I never walked any of the hills on any of my laps. My 2 morning laps were 6th/7th fastest solo laps that morning (granted I didn't ride all night, but hey I was sick too). So still some positive things to consider.

Some other interesting observations is there were almost as many solo single speed riders as there were geared riders. And about half those SS riders were on 29ers. Those 29ers really intrigued me. I'd really like to try one out to see if there is as big a difference as people say.

It was unfortuate to get sick just in time for the race, especially considering I hadn't been sick once all winter. Still, I also need to work on my fitness a little more but that will come with some solid long miles in the saddle during March & April. My winter weight should also come off during those months. May will bring the intensity and then a taper in June (I've decided to cancel the Burn 24 Hour) with my focus on the Mount St. Anne World Cup Marathon and then the following weekend at the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice.

Thanks for reading.

Steve

Old Pueblo almost here

2006-02-09T16:33:00.000-05:00

Well, a week from now I will be in Arizona getting ready for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. The weather is looking favourable....almost to dry, but compared to last years rain I'll take it. It looks like we'll stay over on the Friday night as we are attending a BBQ in honour of Tinker Juarez. Should be fun hearing some of his stories.

I think we might go down on Thursday to get our campsite as it fills up very fast. Pre-ride that day as well and then head back to Scottsdale for the night and pick up all the stuff we need.

I got all of my Recover-Ease samples so the next time I see any of you I will give you some. Hopefully the team kit and casual wear will arrive soon. I doubt before the race but hopefully by March.

So I am starting to intrigued by the whole 29er scene. Since I am pretty tall it might just suit me. Time will tell. I need all the help I can get.....Especially given my competition at the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice as a solo rider. Also, I am now signed up to do the 24 Hours of Hot August nights as a 2 man team...we going up against a bunch of old guys so it shouldn't be much of a problem lapping them multiple times through out the race.

Steve

2006-01-28T19:20:00.000-05:00

Got in a nice ride today with the warm weather. Planned on doing about 100km on my own, but about 45 mins into the ride a couple of roadie friends caught up to me and I ended up riding with them. They are pretty good riders, much better shape than me, and it showed on the big climg of the day. I was working a little too hard on a 4km section right before the climb so when we hit it I was out of gas. Now this is a climb I use a lot in the summer as it is about as long and sustained as I can find in my area. Lasts about 7-10 mins depending on how fast you ride. Under 7 mins is my record, about 7.5 mins is the avg but today was about 10 mins. I was just beat. Once to the top luckily my two friends waited for me and we started to head back. It was nice because we had a tail wind and were doing about 35-40km/h most of the way. On the last stretch the strongest rider practiced his sprint lead out.....I was able to hold on....avg'd about 55km/h on that stretch. So today was a good indicator of my fitness. Not too bad at holding speed, but lots of work needed on the climbing. Probably losing 20lbs would be the best answer. Ended up only doing 75km but got an excellent workout riding with people who are faster than me. Sometimes that really is the only answer....when riding by yourself it is good for endurance, but rarely does one push themselves as hard as they really could go.

Got a bet going with my wife on who will be the "biggest loser"....like the TV show. We each have our goals and whoever comes closest by April 23 gets to go on a spending spree. My goal is 167lbs. Could be a little difficult....got down to 173lbs a couple of years ago, but this could be tough, especially so early in the season. I have a 2 week training camp scheduled for early April so that will help. The big factor will be how much riding I get done it March and how my diet works. I wonder what I would buy?

2006-01-23T11:57:00.000-05:00

Had some great rides over the past few days. Friday I snuck out for a road ride.....had the intention on doing a long (i.e. 4 hour) ride but after nearly being blown into the ditch a few times decided against quite that much distance. I did get out for 2.5 hours though. Riding into the headwind sure was a good workout.

Got in another ride with Mark on Sunday morning. I was planning to ride the "back up" bike which is my hardtail with a mish-mash of parts because my other bike is having middle chain ring issues. Specifically it is skipping a ton. Probably has to do with the fact it is worn out, missing teeth and I just put on a new chain. I'll get another ring (maybe a whole set) before heading down to Arizona. So Saturday night I get the hardtail ready and take it up the street for a test ride. It just felt so hard. I ended up taking the FS on Sunday and just didn't use the middle ring since we were mostly on the pavement for the entire 3 hour ride. Mark used his hardtail and really motored up the hills and could sprint pretty well. I just might need to try that hardtail once more. Ideally, I'd like to get a new frame that fits properly and give it a solid go.

Bike show is coming in just over a month. Maybe I'll get a frame there. I don't need much else, just looking for parts deals etc.

The weather is still above seasonal right now so hopefully I can get out for more rides. I haven't done as much this year as last so I need to pick up the pace a little. Hopefully it works out.

Steve

Happy Belated New Year

2006-01-09T12:25:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to all. Hope everyone had a great holiday. Certain individuals have complained to me about my lack of blogging so here it goes:

Training has been going okay. I haven't been out on the road a lot due to the nasty weather. I particularly want to get out on the weekends but everytime the weekend rolls around it is pouring raining or snowing. Finally this past Saturday I went out and rode with my friend Mark, mostly on snow (and ice) covered paths but we did manage one short section of singletrack. Figures that it section I nearly slide into a gully trying to navigate a short, narrow bridge. Anyways we went out for 3 hours and surprisingly I didn't not feel all that tired. I thought it would have been worse. I think my biggest issue is going to be the fact that I put on some Christmas weight. I always say I won't let it happen but never have much luck with that.

On the team front I am riding with Team Recover-Ease for 2006. Recover-Ease (www.recover-ease.com) is a new recovery supplement on the market and they are trying to promote it in part by sponsoring a team of atheletes. I didn't go for much else in the way of sponsorship....I am happy with what I have now so I didn't feel there was a need.

As far as races go this year, once again my season will begin with with the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo in Tucson, Arizona. This race is always a toss up in terms of fitness so I never expect much out of it and just go to have fun.

Next race might be 24 Hours of Adrenalin in Idyllwild, California at the end of April. I am going to be in the area for business during that time so I might take my bike with me and do the race. Perhaps as a tag team with my brother. This is the location that I rode the 24 Hour World Solo Championships in 2001. It won't be as hot this time, but could be very cold a night.

In May I am going to do the Burn 24 Hour (www.burn24hour.com) in North Carolina which I did a few years ago. It was a fun, low key event so I am looking forward to doing it again.

In June is the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice (www.chicoracing.com) which is the largest 24 hour race in North America. This was the scene of my infamous crash last year which basically ruined my season. If I can be in as good shape this year as I was last year at this time then the race should go well. I'll be plenty rested with 4 weeks between the Burn and this one.

July is totally up in the air. I'll be on vacation and might just use the month to recharge my batteries for the 2nd half of the season. There is a race in Wisconsin at the end of July which is the NORBA National Championship....it is intriguing plus many of the racers will be going for the national title which I would not be eligible for so I would be in a different catagory. It might end up in a good result.

August is the 24 Hours of Albion Hills. I haven't decided if I am going to do this as a team or solo yet. I haven't done a team 24 hour in so long it might be fun. But then I would envy the solo's.

September brings the 24 Hours in Pisgah (North Carolina)....I've been eyeing this race for awhile, but I think I will wait and see how I feel. September also brings the Dirty 100 and an 8 hour the following weekend which are both close to home.

Lastly, in November is La Rute (www.adventurerace.com) in Costa Rica. I have wanted to do this 3 day stage race across Costa Rica for a long time. I almost went in 2001 but then qualified for the World's and did that instead. It would be an expensive adventure but something I would remember forever.

Sprinkle in a few "regular" mountain bike races and maybe even a road race and you have my season. An aggressive one for sure, but hopefully everything will work out and it will be a successful one to!

Steve

2005-10-31T08:55:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween! I'm taking the kids out for trick or treating tonight....maybe I should dress up as a MTBer and get some candy too?

Got some more riding in.....a really good ride yesterday. Very windy but had the tailwind all the way home and was really flying. I'm having trouble getting in long rides though....yesterday was 3 hours and that is about as long as I've been able to get. Bad weather, other obligations have cut down on the time. But I've started the gym so hopefully that will help. Focused on my legs but will do upper body to balance it out.

I'm anxiously waiting for sponsor responses these days. Sent all the proposals out mid September so they should be coming soon.

Steve

2005-10-22T17:21:00.000-04:00

The weather outside is brutal. I am determined to get back out on the bike as much as possible for base training but the weather isn't helping. Case in point this morning. Wake up at 7am. Still dark out. But dry. Have beakfast and check the temperature. 2 degrees. Pretty cold but I've got the gear. Rain supposed to hold off until Noon. Head out around 8am. A fair bit of wind making it quite chilly but I can take it. Then it starts to rain. Heavy rain. I am 40km away from home. Luckily I have a tail/crosswind. Made it home in a little over an hour, but I am drenched, especially my feet. They are frozen solid. Soak in the bath for 30 mins but still chilled.

I hope the weather gets better!

Training has begun

2005-10-19T13:22:00.000-04:00

I have ridden my bike much over the past month or so. Trying to just take it easy and re-motivate for the 2006 season. The weather hasn't been that great which makes it difficult to get started but I am officially off. I got my gym membership squared away and will be spending lots of time there doing plenty of different things. I've built an entire training schedule for the next 11 months so it will be interesting to see how well I stick to it. If I can keep close I should definitely seem some improvement for next year.

I've sent out my sponsorship proposals already (done about a month ago) so now it is more of a waiting game. I am anxious to get things organized on that end as it makes a difference on planning some of my races for the new year. I still plan to focus on endurance races, but will also participate in some standard races and maybe even a road race. This was one place I was lacking this past year.....just not enough actual racing under my belt. Nothing simulates racing like racing....you just give a totally different effort from when you try to copy race conditions while training.

Did my first workout with weights last night and boy are my legs sore. I've got a session booked with a trainer next week to hone in my plan to make sure I'm doing the right things for my plan. I know what I want to do and areas I want to improve but need someone to build a proper plan for me so I don't overdo it too much.

Today is a rest day and then back out for a road ride tomorrow. Those are becoming more challenging with the short days and cool mornings....but I'll live with it.

Steve

Race Report: Pauls Dirty Enduro 100K

2005-09-25T08:59:00.000-04:00

Hello all....a race report for the enduro race Pauls Dirty 100. It is a great race I have done a few times which raise money for the Canadian Mental Health Association. It is held at Ganaraska Forest near Peterborough and is a single 100km loop through the forest. Now lets get to the race.

The race was to begin at 8:00am for the 100K racers (there were also 15km, 40km, & 60km events) so that meant an early wake up for me at 4:30am. After packing all my stuff, picking up my friend Dave and driving there it was 7:00am. It was freezing cold in the morning but I knew we would warm up once we got riding, but I still had on arm warmers, knickers, and a vest. 8am rolled around and after forgetting to put on my transponder and holding up the race start we were off.

The first 15km were a little challenging with a lot of climbing (a theme for the race). I was hoping things would smooth out so the speed would pick up. My wish came through and after I shed my vest I was flying in some of the sweetest singletrack ever. The kind were you never have to touch the brakes, but are in the big ring with swooping corners. It was truly amazing. I started thinking to myself...."Steve, you are really moving, your conditioning must be better than you thought after taking the month of September off, before beginning the training season all over again in October". Little did I know.

After picking off a bunch of riders in that singletrack I hit the first checkpoint, but just blew through as I still had lots of fluids. That is when the course became much more difficult. Not particularly technical, but the climbing was unreal. I'm a decent climber but it was starting to wear on me. I was definately looking forwad to the next checkpoint which brought us back to the parking lot and I could replenish my e-load, CarbBoom gels, and get some solid food. It seemed to take forever to get there and I kept thinking that this felt like the longest 60km (we did a 60K loop and a 40K loop) in awhile. When I finally caught site of the main camp I was happy and stopped at Checkpoint #2. I asked one of the volunteers to confirm our distance so far (no computer on my bike) assuming she would say 60K. Nope, we had only done 40K. Guess how long that took! This will give you an idea of how much climbing there was. It took me 4 hours to do 40K. That 10KM/H. I was not a happy camper. All I could think was this thing was going to take me over 10 hours to complete if the course continued on its trend. I thought about packing it in a that point, but I was determined to finish.

After stocking up on supplies I headed back out to do the 60K loop. With my trusty MP3 player continuing to crank out the tunes I tried not to be too bored. So far I had been riding on my own and it wasn't much fun. This was the low point of the race for me. I kept thinking about how long it would take me to finish which was depressing. Plus the climbing was wearing on me and I was desperate to have some company. I started walking a lot of climbs due to lack of motivation as was generally down in the dumps. Then they came. While walking up one of the climbs 2 riders past me....a guy and girl who I thought were a couple but turned out not to be....he was just trying to pick her up I think :-). They seemed to be doing a good pace so I started riding with them. It was wonderful. For the next 3 hours or so we rode together. One dicey moment came on a downhill where I was behind the girl. We were in a section where they were bunch of large sinkholes, some covered with bridges, some not. I always would give her room on the downhills and it was a good thing this time. It looked as though we were going to rollover a bridge but it only covered half of the sink hole. She wasn't prepared for this and literally her bike dropped straight in the hole and she did a superman landing on the far side of the hole. Luckily she was okay. And luckily I left enough room to hit the brakes otherwise I would have landed right on top of her!

Soon after this they asked me to lead the group for awhile. I had my second wind and unintentionally pulled away. Our paths did cross one more time at one of the checkpoints but I didn't really see them until after the race. I was on my own again but felt good and tried to push the pace. I had left my hydrapak at the car after 40K as my back was really sore, so I had to stop at each checkpoint to fill my bottles. My whole body was starting to ache (except for my legs), particularly at my shoulders and my triceps. As everyone knows what goes up must come down and my arms and shoulders were taking a beating from it.

After the last checkpoing I was only about 15km from the finish. I was excited but then the course punched me in the gut again. More climbing. Not too many short steep climbs, but long climbs. I think the last one was about 20 mins of non stop climbing. I was determined to ride it all, knowing I was so close to the finish. I managed to do it and soon after the finish was in sight for which I was thankful.

I finished the race in 8 hours and 19 minutes, so the 2nd 60K loop took less 4.5 hours which was a little better than the first 40K. Having some other riders definitely helped. I grabbed a bit of food, won a prize (framed picture of an NHL goalie) and then got on my way. Overall the race was a good one with perfect weath and the course was in prime condition. Everyone who knows Ganaraska knows there is a lot of climbing....I hadn't been there for a couple of years and it was a shock to my system. I made it through though. I don't have any idea where I placed (not on the podum...I know that) and was too tired to check.

I think this will be my last race of the season. As mentioned, I've taken most of September off the bike with the exception of a few fun rides with friends. I've needed to give my body a chance to recover from some of the injuries sustained earlier in the season. I'll begin my training program all over again in October, with my goal being to be in the best shape ever for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo (Arizona) in February.

Many thanks goes out to my sponsors for the 2005 season. Turner Bikes (www.turnerbikes.com), www.Gearsracing.com, Rudy Project (www.rudyprojectusa.com) Glasses and Helmets, CarbBoom gels (www.carbboom.com), Kenda Tires (www.kenda.com), and CatEye (www.cateye.com) lights. Your assistance is greatly appreciated and I have had lots of opportunitys to talk up your products. I look forward to working with all of you again next year!

Steve

2005-09-06T20:02:00.000-04:00

Been taking it easy the past while with rides every few days. Kind of using this as my down time before I start the whole crazy training thing again. I've got some new ideas for a training program which should really help my fitness. One of my other goals is to keep the winter weight off (and maybe drop a few pounds too)....I really have to watch my diet. Being on the road for work doesn't help much when I'm looking for cheap and easy food to get. Usually its all bad.

Working on the whole sponsor thing again. Some have a deadline of September 15 (for the following season) which is crazy. I'm looking for some very specific stuff. Hopefully I will be able to provide more of an update as this process moves forward.

I'm still mulling over doing a couple more races. Specifically the Ontario Enduro Championships this weekend and Pauls Dirty 100 a couple of weeks later. I think both will depend on the weather and how I am feeling. I'm more interested in the 100k event as I have a craving for singletrack these days and there's nothing like 100k of riding to quench that craving.

Steve

2005-08-31T15:03:00.000-04:00

I've done a few rides since the 24 Hour race just to get my legs moving. My shoulder is still sore but seems to be getting better every day which is a good sign. I went for a wicked MTB ride yesterday for about 3 hours. A ride into my parents place and hit up the singletrack following the Don River. It was in fantastic shape and I had a ton of fun riding which is the whole point, right? I managed to clean the lower half which doesn't happen very often, but when I hit the upper half it was a different story. This area is very steep and quite technical. I can handle moderate technical trail but this particular area was super steep up and down with several bridges which always make me nervous. I ended up walking a few sections just to be safe, but overall I had a blast. It really reminded me how fun MTBing is, considering how much time I have spent on the road bike this year.

Just to give you an idea of the split in mileage between the two up to the end of August:
MTB - 568km
Road - 7773km

Quite a difference huh! I need to ride my MTB more....to increase my technical skills and learn how to ride faster on singletrack. I'm not a super fast guy, just usually a consistent one. Guys I can drop on the road where it is all fitness kill me in the single track. I really have try riding once or twice per week to work on these areas.

My friend Dave just sent me his race report from the 24 hour. He did a good job and came third in the race (he was in 1st until a "bike issue"). The most important thing I took from that report is having a solid crew and listening to them no matter what. Case in point, Dave crashed with 3.5 hours to go in the race. He was in first place. He thought he bent his fork. He ends the race. Turns out the fork isn't bent. Now any seasoned 24 hour rider knows one is not thinking straight after 20 hours of riding. Your mind and eyes are playing tricks on you. Which is why you need to listen to your crew. (Dave, this isn't directed toward you!) I know I have trouble doing it....particularly when they are telling me to go out for another lap when I don't want to. So unless you are badly injured or have a catastrophic mechanical you just need to do as your told!! Hopefully I take my own advice next year. :-)

Steve

24 Hours of Albion, Hot Summer Nights

2005-08-27T15:11:00.000-04:00

We'll that was a race for the books! I went up to Albion Hills on Friday to set up camp but didn't get very far when the worst storm of the summer rolled through. Wind, rain and lightening made for a spectacular storm, but left worries about the condition of the course for the weekend. Well, Chico Racing (www.chicoracing.com) did a specatular job and the course was phenomenal.

The 24 Hours at Albion is the 2nd largest event (1800 riders) of its kind in North America (its sister event, 24 Hours of Summer Solstice in June is the largest with 2400 riders) and is a top notch event with tons of stuff to do when you are not racing. Bands, movies, kids race, BBQ etc along with the laid back style make the event lots of fun. As usual the race began at Noon, but no Le Mans start (hooray!). We did a short start loop and I could tell I didn't have the power in my legs I did in the June race. My friend Dave (who was the best solo rider there) left me in the dust shortly after the start and I just settled in to my own race. The course was in good shape....a little slick in the rooty sections but very tacky everywhere else which made things fun. There were a lot of short power climbs which took their toll, but also some fun swoopy single track which you can really rail. The course was about 17km long and the fast guys were doing it in about 1 hour with averages being in the 1:10 to 1:20 range.

I settled into a steady rythm for the afternoon, keeping my laps times remarkably consistent. It was around 7:30pm when I had to take a break to try and rectify my neck and back situation. My legs felt very fresh, but my lower back plus my shoulders were quite sore. I went over to the massage area and they went to work. After a few minutes I felt my back crack and new that at least my lower back would be better now! My masseur went to work on my shoulders and did a fantastic job, but there was one area that wasn't going to be solved by the massage. It was the should I injured in my crash in June and I was just going to have live with it.

After slowly changing into some fresh riding clothes I headed out for my first night lap. My Cateye Stadium 3 lights did a great job lighting up the trail but the bike was still flying around on the roots which were very slick from the dew (there was a lot of humidity that day/night). After whacking my bad shoulder on a tree during this lap I decided that I was better off packing up for the night, rather than risking more injury to my shoulder.

At dawn I was up again riding, planning another 3 laps or so before the finish. I managed to get those 3 laps in and even engaged in a battle with another solo rider on the last lap for position (although we didn't know it at the time). Unfortunately that was for a whoping 19th place. Oh well, it was still a good race and I kept consistent lap times throughout the race which was a positive sign. Perhaps if I rode through the night I would have had a high position (based on my consistent lap times) but I didn't and it is easy to say "if, if, if...." I will use this for motivation to train for next year and build on the huge base I created during this season.

I need to get some rehab for my shoulder as it is just not healing as well as I would like. I'm not sure if I will race any more this year....maybe one or two low key events just for fun such as the Enduro Cup or a 100km event. Then it is back to the road and gym to build up over the winter for next season. I need to focus on learning how to peak for events....I did a great job for the June event and a terrible one for the August event. I thought about a coach but I like to do my own thing and probably just need to stay focused on the intensity throughout the summer and not just until June.

Hopefully I will get back to updating this blog more frequently. I need to figure out my sponsor situation for next year and whether to focus on MTB again or a combination of MTB and Road. I've begun to really enjoy road riding, but this past 24 hour race reminded me of my passion for mountain biking (esp. since I have done very little of it this year).

Thanks for reading!

Steve

Previous race, upcoming race

2005-07-21T13:53:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted since my last race in the middle of June.....well, because I am just about finally recovered from it. I wish I could say it took me a long time to recover as a result of the hardest effort I have ever put in, resulting in a win.....but sadly that is not the case. I arrived on the morning of the race to light showers (it had been raining most of the week) getting my pit set up in a primo spot right on the course. I was feeling awesome after having a good taper and just felt like I was ready to dominate. I had my prerace pasta breakfast about 2 hours before the race began and just chilled out. After a short warm up I headed down to the start line. At this race there is no lemans start.....just a traditional race start with people on their bikes which suits me just fine. I was about 1/3 from the front and was off to a comfortable start. Everything is pretty slow for about 10 minutes as the field sorts themselves out. Once things were strung out I really started motoring. I was feeling great and riding about 3rd in the solos. I actually thought to myself...."man we are going fast, faster than normal"....but I was feeling good and not overextending myself. I figured it was just that I was in good condition and since I didn't have a lot of time on my mountain bike I just wasn't used to the speed. We continued along into the newly cut section of the course. It was in much better shape from the rain compared to the pre-ride when it was very soft and sandy. I was pleased and had just made it through a section I was having difficulty with during the pre-ride. I think my confidence was a bit too high. I came around a corner and was going down a steep hill with a bit of a compression dip. I was looking ahead at the small rock garden ahead looking for my line when I hit the dip.....I didn't have my weight back far enough and over the bars I went. Actually I stayed attached to my bike. I went straight into the rock garden and landed on my head and shoulder. I lay there a little dazed (still clipped into my bike) and tried to assess the damage. The worst thing was my shoulder. So bad in fact, I couldn't put any pressure on it to push on the ground to get up. I knew it wasn't my collarbone but I was having a lot of trouble moving my arm. Another rider kindly helped me get sorted out and I was on my way. Only problem was I couldn't hold onto the bar with my right hand. I knew my race was done. As I watched all of my competition pass me for the next 15 minutes I could only think what could have been. The best shape of my life only to crash 40 mins into the race by a stupid mistake on my part. I got myself back to the start/finish and went to first aid. They put me in a sling and sent me to the hospital thinking I either separated my shoulder or broke my scapula. Luckily, after 6 hours in the ER, I had no broken bones....just severe deep tissue bruises and an sprained shoulder. I am now fully recovered (still some occasional stiffness) and have been riding a fair bit on the road.

This weekend I am going to race in an 8 hour MTB race at Hardwood Hills. I'm not sure how I will do....don't think I'm quite in the condition I was in June as I am rebuilding towards another 24 hour in mid August. So this race will be more of a training race than anything. Then I will take 4 days off to go camping with my family. The following weekend will be highlighted by another 8 hour ride (not race) followed by 2 weeks of long, high intensity training. Then I will taper down to be ready for the 24 hour where I hope to seek revenge.

I hope to post a report shortly after the 8 hour.

Steve

Long time, no blog

2005-06-08T15:04:00.000-04:00

So I've been neglecting the blog lately....to busy with work and riding. So here is what has happened since late April:

Had two bouts of illness - a cold and an upper respiratory infection - a real drag on training
Big crash on the road while doing a group ride...bike unscathed, concussion for the rider :)
Much work on my climbing...but still needs improvement
My longest training ride ever - 7.5 hrs / 220km
A ton of long rides - over 3000 km in May and start of June

One thing I've been lacking lately is riding my mountain bike. As a matter of fact, I've only used it 3 times since the 24 hour race in February.

I've been feeling pretty good during my rides lately....less and less fatigue when doing back to back to back 100km+ rides. I've even done a few 2 a day rides.

My first big race of the year is on June 18/19 for the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice which is in Ontario, Canada. The race is sold out and there are an expected 2500 riders. There will be about 50 solo riders (that is the max they allowed) and there should be a ton of competition to make things interesting. I have several friends also doing solo so I'll be in competition with them as well as the rest of the field for a good position.

I'm in taper mode right now, but I don't like to ease up too much. Seems like my body prefers to ride everyday vs taking days off. Trying to just cut down on the mileage so I am still riding on my same schedule, but just shorter distances. I'll be taking a few forced days off next week (Monday & Tuesday), do about 3 hours on Wednesday, Thursday off, and about a 60-90 minutes on Friday just to keep my legs fresh. Then race on Saturday.

The long range forcast for the race is rain on the Saturday, sunny on the Sunday, but significantly cooler than the heatwave we're having right now. Let's hope the rain goes away and the temperatures warm up a bit. Last year the night time was in the low 40's which was a bit too cold for me. Particularly when you are starting and stopping (for food)....the sweat gets cold fast!

I'm planning to preride the course this weekend. I've heard there some new singletrack which is very technical. I'm not sure if they'll put it in on race day as the organizers need to cater to the average rider which might not be able to handle the new track.

I might post one more time before the race....otherwise watch for a race report the week after the event.

Cheers!

Steve

The latest

2005-04-17T20:18:00.000-04:00

Been awhile since my last update. Things have been really busy lately with work, but I've been able to get in some quality riding lately. Did an awesome road ride today. It is a group ride called the Donut Ride. It is one of the oldest rides in Toronto and starts from what used to be a Donut shop. It quickly heads North out of the city and into quieter roads. With it still being early in the road season a lot of people come out.....like over 100 riders. I would say there was about 120 riders today. You feel like you are in the peleton of a Pro Tour race. Only problem is you get riders of varying abilities which makes things sketchy at times. The group usually stays together for the first 30 minutes while we head out of the city and then things really open up. Guy (and some gals) are trying to show off their early season fitness. I managed to hang on to the main pack doing 45km/h until we hit the big climb of the day. It is probably 10kms of a gradual 5-6% grade but I am just not a great climber due to my body structure. I'm a big boy designed for power climbs, sprints and pacemaking. As soon as a long uphill comes I'm toast. Anyways as usual I fell off the back which is okay with me and hooked up with another group more my speed. After the climb we hit the midway point of the ride and the point where we take a brake a Mama's bakery. Everyone takes a bathroom break and fills up on pastries which gives a chance for the group to reform. Then were off again. This is where I started to feel really good. The group was cruising along at about 40km/h when we needed to make a right turn onto a busy road and then a quick left. Unfortunately there was a lot of traffic which slowed some people down an dsplit the group into two. Anyone who has done group riding knows it can be tough to bridge to a peleton with the slow half of riders of about 60 people. I was stuck at the front of the second group and really wanted to get back to the main pack. I dropped the hammer and for the next 20 mins clocked about 50km/h hoping to get some assistance with the pull but there were no takers. I finally took a look back to see what was going on behind me and to my surprise I only had about 7 guys still with me. Pack #2 had disintegrated. I led all the way back to the main group feeling really good. After another 30 mins the main pack slowly parted ways to head home. This left my friend Mark and I wondering about Chris who was along for the ride. We pulled over at a bus stop and sat waiting for about 20 mins before he finally showed up. In that time many riders passed by who were originally part of that ride. I'd say only about 30 people actually finished in the main pack. Probably my strongest ride of the year so far. If I could only become a better climber!

Training camp is coming next week for 12 days so hopefully I can build on my fitness, work on my climbing, and drop some weight. The goal is to put in about 1200kms+ or at least 50 hours of riding. I'll post after the camp to report my results!

Kaboom!

2005-03-26T11:25:00.000-05:00

Well, it happened. Went on another 100km+ ride yesterday and my rear wheel finally had it. I managed to make it home but my wheel sounded awful. I pulled it completely apart last night and greased everything I could. Put it back together and took it for test spin. Same thing. So it has to be the bearings. This morning I put it on the roof of the car to take it to the shop and then noticed one of the nipple holes has a crack in it. So that wheel is completely fried. I told the shop I need it back by next weekend or they'll have to lend me a wheel to use. We'll see.

Steve

2005-03-23T10:52:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since my last update. Training has been coming along a little slower than I would like. I wake up to go out and there's always a bunch of snow on the ground! It is getting frustrating and I've had it with the trainer. I've put on my regular road tires now so I don't want to chew them up on the trainer. I have been able to get out for many 100km+ rides recently so that is always a good thing. My time right now for a specific route I do which is 102km is as fast as I was doing it last summer so I'm feeling like my fitness is ahead of last year. As I build up to my training camp in mid April things should be really good.

My biggest problem right now is the rear wheel on my bike is just about ready to fall apart. It makes a terrible racket as I am riding. I've pulled the whole thing apart, lubed and reassembled without much luck. I think the bearings might be done. I bought my road bike (Specialized Allez Elite w/ Alex A-Class 330 wheels) last April and I have about 6000km on the bike so I guess the wheel is just worn out. The bike is great, but the wheelset is kind of cheap. I think I will pick up a new set very soon. Any recommendations from anyone? I don't want to break the bank....I'm looking to spend around $500-$600.

Adios!

Steve

Welcome to Miami

2005-03-09T11:35:00.000-05:00

Just back from my trip to Miami for a little fun in the sun and relaxation. Really it was a business recognition trip for the top sales people at my company so there was a lot of things going on the whole time.

I won't bore everyone with too many details, but I will say Miami is one helluva interesting place! If you like people watching this is the place to be. I managed to get in about 90 minutes of walking on the beach each day. My legs are actually quite sore from that walking as walking on a beach is much different than on pavement. My neck also got a good workout from checking out the sites on the beach. Let's just say there was lots of silicon getting a tan.

Temperatures were warm...about 80 d F. I was able to do an Everglades Adventure which was cool riding on an airboat and seeing aligators in the wild. I also managed to get in a round of golf, shooting an excellent 83 (on a par 72) especially since I only get in about 5 rounds a year now (I used to play a lot more in my mid 20's).

The airlines managed to lose my luggage again, this time it was American Airlines. That's twice in 2 weeks I've had luggage lost.

The weather here in Oakville is damn cold so I am going to delay the start of big mileage until next week when the weather warms up.

Steve

Recovery from the race and the flu

2005-02-28T16:15:00.000-05:00

Recovery has been very interesting since I came home from the race. Wednesday night I came down with a nasty case of the flu. Really nasty. I was in bed all day Thursday and most of Friday trying to get better. Not the kind of illness you want to get just after racing when your body is already run down. I started to feel better Saturday, just in time for the rest of my family to get the flu. I barely slept Saturday or Sunday night taking care of everyone. Needless to say I feel really run down and I have done no riding or any other excercise since returning from Arizona. I might try to spin on the trainer for a bit in the next day or two since riding outside will be impossible due to the snow storm we'll be having for the next few days. Oh well. Just resting is a good thing anyways.

I'm off to Miami/South Beach on the weekend for a 4 day mini holiday. This is a recognition event for work and I'll have a bunch of friends going down so it sounds like it will be a huge party the whole time! Not sure if I'll be able to handle too much of that....I need to get some quality relaxation! I get to pick from a bunch of activities....I'm going on an Everglades Adventure on one of those boats with the big fan on the back that skims across the water. It sounds like a lot of fun. The next day I was planning to go deep sea fishing, but I don't want to ruin the evening in case I get sea sick, so I opted for a relaxing game of golf. It will be a short trip but hopefully the weather will be warmer and sunnier than in Arizona. I can't wait!

When I get back from that trip the heavy training will begin....hopefully getting long hours in the saddle (as long as the weather is reasonable). I need to step up the mileage and get some longer intervals going than what I have been doing. I also plan to focus on my climbing which is a weakness right now.

Steve

Gears Racing Announces Mountain Bike Team For 2005

2005-02-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

Mr. Mark S. Bonham, Chairman, and Mr. Kevin Wallace, President, of the Gears Racing Institute (“GRI”) are today very pleased to announce the composition of the Gears Racing Mountain Bike Team for the year 2005. The complete list of racers signed to the team is listed below.

“We welcome back several of our experienced riders to the team this year, and are pleased to announce new additions to the team”, stated Kevin Wallace. “The pool of talent we have attracted to GearsRacing is very impressive. Each of the riders has committed to the development-team concept that is unique to the Gears Racing Institute.”

As one of Canada’s first true development teams in the sport of mountain biking, management takes the objective of matching seasoned and experienced athletes with promising up-and-coming future stars on the racing scene through a mentoring program. The GRI is committed to nurturing Canada’s junior athletes in the formative stages of their careers as they develop into professional athletes. The goals of these mountain bike athletes include the desire to be selected for Canadian National Team projects, to represent Canada at international competitions such as the Olympic Games, or to be asked to join competitive Trade Teams.

“Our development program has worked very successfully in the past”, continued Kevin Wallace. “Over the last five years, we have helped teammate Kiara Bisaro achieve her goal of racing for Canada in the 2004 Olympic Games. Similarly, the team mentored Ricky Federau as he worked his way to Canadian National Elite Champion in 2004. Other graduates of the GRI program have met their development goals and have proudly moved on to professional trade teams. Now, the GRI is launching its program for the next four-year Olympic cycle. Part of this strategy is to return to the grassroots level to identify Canada’s promising athletes and help them develop as competitive racers.”

Gears Racing is proud to be sponsored by Shimano Canada, Specialized Bicycles, Sugoi, Michelin Tires, RockShox, Stoney Ridge Estate Winery, and Bonham & Co. Inc.The Gears Racing Institute is a specialist, non-profit foundation created to identify and develop world-class competitive cyclists for Canada.

Team RosterDivision/Name

World Cup:
Kiara Bisaro
Ricky Federau

National Espoir: Mark Batty

Junior Expert Women: Emily Batty

National Senior Elite: Sue Trimble, Andrew Watson

Provincial:
Derek MacNeil
Craig Hawkes
Sean Ito
Paul Skafel
Colin Reinholt
Steve Perkins
Gary Serra
Chris Bent
Dustin Miedema
Max Tompkins

Team Management:
Kevin Wallace, President
Ira Kargel, Vice-President
Ron Vanderleeuw, Team Captain/Head Mechanic
Ryan Hindmarsh, Training/Development Manager

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo Report

2005-02-22T09:09:00.000-05:00

What a race.....I mean really what a race! Only in the sense that these were the toughest conditions I have ever endured racing my mountain bike. Read on.

I arrived in Arizona on Wednesday, got my bike assembled and had a great dinner. Thursday, Jim and I drove out to Tucson which is about a 2 hour drive so we could get a prime camping spot. The venue was supposed to open at Noon Thursday...we arrived at 12:20pm and there were a ton of people there already. We ended up getting a decent site about 75 yards from the course and set up camp. Just the tent and some chairs and then roped off the rest of the area we would need. Rain was in the forcast so we decided we would head back home and come back Saturday morning.

After listening to the pouring rain Friday night, we headed out about 6:30am Saturday morning and arrived at the course about 8:30am. It has also rained at the venue Friday night but the sun was breaking out and things were drying up very fast. I thought maybe things would be okay after all. We got the awning set up along with the rest of our stuff just in time for the rain to start. We had the usual Captains meeting at 10am and there was a special ceremony to honour Keith Bontrager which was cool. Meanwhile, it was raining throughout and the temperature was about 55 d F.

The course was about 25km long and had a mix of jeep road and single track. There was about 1300 feet of climbing per lap which consisted of one long arduous climb (about 8km total which was in the middle of the course) and one long ride down.

The race started at Noon....in the rain. We ran for about 1/2 mile, hopped on our bikes and started riding down an access road for about 10 mins. I was soaked within the 1st mile. Conditions were a little bit slick but it was kind of fun and wild. I felt pretty good and finished the first lap around 20th (out of about 80+ soloists) so I was quite happy. I had decided to pull a double lap at the start so instead of heading back to my pit I immediately left for another lap. I was already soaked anyways, but not too cold so it was a good idea. Conditions on the course had deteriorated quite a bit. With about 1500 riders these things can happen.

As the race progressed the weather worsened. The rain became heavier and the course was muddier. Like many other people, the biggest problem I had was with my bike. I had severe chain suck.....in general my drivetrain was shot. Mud was in every nook and cranny, shifting was horrible after the first lap....there is nothing more disheartening than the sound of mud grinding away at everything. Plus, my bottom bracket seized. Not what I was hoping for and that took a long time to repair. I’m sure every bike shop in the state of Arizona has a grin from ear to ear knowing how much business they are going to get from people ruining their bikes at this race. Some people even resorted to washing their bikes in what we called E Coli Pond. Keep in mind the race is on a cattle ranch and there were cow pies everywhere. A pond had formed in one area from all the rain....people were wading into the pond with their bikes to wash them off. Who knows what kind of bacteria was lurking in there. Needless to say I stayed far away from it.

The nightime hours brought even worse rain. I had parked my bike and lay in the tent listening to the torrential rain....and I am not exaggerating about how hard the rain was. At one point a runoff area on the course had 18 inches of water flowing through it. There was hail. There was fog. And there were heavy winds. The promoter of the race said he had never seen worse weather in the 10 years he has been organizing events. I personally have never raced for such a prolonged period of time in such weather. It was fun and awful at the same time.

When morning hit the weather finally began to clear. The mud thickened on the dirt roads a little bit which drained some energy, but the singletrack was like concrete and was awesome. I think I had the most fun on my final two laps. I put on the MP3 player to keep my mind off the conditions and thinking about how I was feeling. I was tired and some of the uphills were a grind but the flats and downhills were a blast. I had a little dual going with an Ellsworth rider for most of the lap. I passed them on the 7 bitches (7 steep up and downs one after another at the beginning of the course) and they hovered about 50-100 yards back for much of the lap. At the final 2km of climbing I only had about 10 yards to I dug deep and hammered the rest of the way. Once the climb was done the best downhill of the course was upon us....I put it in the big ring and flew down the last 3km of the course. I never saw that rider again. It was my 2nd fastest lap of the race.

I finished exactly at Noon and my final result was 29th place (out of about 80+). I would say I am pleased with my finish given that most of the riders were locals and in peak shape whereas I am in winter shape. However, I do feel my fitness is better than usual at this time of year. I could tell because I never had to walk my bike on the hills and never used the granny ring or the 34T Cog (w/ middle ring) the entire race. I was still even passing many people on my final lap which is always a good sign.

Many thanks go out to my sponsors: Gearsracing.com, Rudy Project, Carb Boom, Turner Bicycles, FSA, and Kenda. Their support is greatly appreciated!!

Oh ya, US Air lost all of my baggage, including my bike. Quite a bummer....I just hope I see them again sometime! I think it is all in Philly, but I'll have to wait and see.

2 days to go

2005-02-17T09:08:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm sitting here in Arizona....weather is much warmer than home. The only thing I am worried about is the rain! Saturday is calling for some rain but I am hoping the weatherman is wrong. The good thing is the course is in the middle of the desert so rain is absorbed very fast.

My brother and I are going to drive down to the race venue to get our pit set up. There are no designated sites, it is just a free for all so you need to be there early to get a site right next to the course. We'll probably pre-ride a lap of the course which was shortened from 28km to about 24km....basically the lap is one big downhill then one looooong climb.

Watch for a race report on Monday or Tuesday.

Wish me luck!

Gators and Fog

2005-02-06T17:04:00.000-05:00

It has been a pretty busy week with some travel down to Tampa for business. The resort I stayed in was absolute massive with a ton of walking. It has 4 golf courses and one of them is used for the annual PGA Chrysler Event. I managed to sneak out of the meetings long enough to get in a round of golf on the PGA course. It was absolutely spectacular and I played surprisingly well for having rental clubs and not playing for 6 months. I shot an 89. Maybe if this 24 Hour racing thing doesn't work out I should become a golfer.......nah. The coolest thing of the round was seeing an alligator at the side of a pond, plus two more in the water. I kept my distance but they were massive!

I managed to use their Gym once and it was a bit of a disaster. It was a tiny hole in the wall with one exercise bike plus some weight machines. It was bloody hot in there and smelled really bad. I rode the bike for awhile and then did some leg curls and extensions. Big mistake. These machines were very cheap and I proceeded to bruise both of my lower chins. It made it very painful to walk around this huge resort.

The weather finally cleared up here in Oakville for the weekend so I took advantage. I managed to get in 2.5 hours of riding on Saturday and another 4.5 hours on Sunday. The Sunday ride interesting as there was a ton of fog. The temperature never warmed up enough to burn it off....in fact the further north I rode the cooler it became. It was so cold that the moisture on my Rudy Project glasses froze. It was a beautiful ride otherwise as all the trees and bushes were completely frozen with a layer of fine snow. By the last 40 minutes of the ride I was suffering pretty bad. I am sure it was a combination of some longer rides along with the chest cold I am fighting. I think I will take a few days off to get complete heathy. The 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo starts in 13 days and I need to be health for that race, although my expectations are not high....I am really hoping to just ride steadily and for as long as possible. I don't always make it through the entire night at this race because of my fitness level, however I have trained more this winter than many past ones so I hope I have the base to go long. I won't be too fast as I'm just at the tail end of my base training, just long and steady. We'll have to wait and see.

Steve

Outside at last and Video Games

2005-01-29T16:31:00.000-05:00

Finally got to do a ride outside today for about 2 hour 15 mins. It seems like it has been forever since I've been outdoors and I have just been itching to do it. Riding the trainer indoors is just not as motivating. The weather was a little cold, about -5 d C, but much better than the -20 d C or worse we've been having for the past few weeks.

I have a conference for the next 4 days in Tampa which will be nice. Not much training as the days are very packed but at least the weather will be warm. I'll have to check out the gym to see if they have any bikes I can at least spin on a few times while I am away.

I'm not much of a video game guy but I have to give this one a plug. It's going to be one of the biggest games of the year. It is called Playboy: The Mansion (www.playhef.com). It is a Sim City type of game. Basically you are Hugh Hefner and just starting out. You build your publishing empire slowly and gain readers. The more readers, the more money, which means you can expand your Mansion and open up sections such as "The Grotto". You can even oversee photo shoots! It is out on X-Box, PS2, and PC. Why am I plugging this? My brothers company is the publisher of the game!

Steve

Tip #4 - Travelling with your bike

2005-01-22T17:37:00.000-05:00

In less than a month I'll be leaving for Arizona to race in the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. I've been there a number of times with my bike (plus a few other events such as the World Solo Championships) so I'm starting to figure out how to fly properly with my bike.

First thing is to get a good case. A hard case, not the soft ones. I use the Trico Sports Iron Case. Be very careful how you pack your bike. Take off the wheels (obviously), cranks, fork, rear derailleur. Wrap the fork legs and frame in insulation (I use plumbers pipe insulation tubing) to protect everything from getting scratched. Make sure everything is snug in the case and can't move around. Those airport baggage handlers typically are not too careful .

Make sure you bring enough tools to put your bike back together. Don't put too much else in the case other than your bike and a couple sets of tires. Most airlines have a limit of 70lbs or they won't take it. One time I put my lights and batteries in the case....needless to say I had to crack it open in the middle of check-in and carry them on the plane as I was over the limit. The biggest drag travelling with your bike is the cost....usually $50-$70 each way. I've heard of all sorts of tips to avoid this....like saying there is artwork in the case, or just bicycle parts. I worry about lying in case they search the case and the contents are different. That would make one suspicious.

Strangely I've rarely been searched. The one time I thought for sure was travelling from the 2001 World Solo Championships in Idyllwild, California. This was only the week after 9/11 had happened and security seemed to be tight. When I was coming home and in the San Diego airport I saw security going through everything including suitcases, golf bags etc. I figured I would be searched for sure with such a huge case plus 2 full hockey bags of gear. To my surprise the person at check-in took my bags right away and put them on the luggage belt. I asked why my stuff didn't need to be searched and was told "you don't fit the profile". I didn't know there needed to be a profile. Pretty disappointing to say the least to see this arrogance so soon after that tragedy.

Anyway, be prepared for anything and give yourself extra time at the airport with all of the extra stuff you'll be carrying.

Snowstorms, MP3's, and RAAM

2005-01-22T17:19:00.000-05:00

Well, like the rest of the Northeast U.S., Toronto is getting hammered by the big snow storm. I have shovelled twice (does that count as cross training?!) already today and I'm sure I will be out once more before the day is done. The temperatures aren't much fun either....it is supposed to be -40 d C with the windchill tonight....this afternoon it was a balmy -25!

As you would have guessed there hasn't been much outdoor riding lately. I think I have used my trainer more than ever before this month. It has become much more tolerable now that I have my MP3 although I'm having trouble downloading songs. For some reason some songs download and are 20 mins of dead air. I can't figure it out. Anyone have any tips?

I watched the two hour RAAM show this afternoon. It reminded me a lot of 24 hour solo racing except it is about 7 times harder. It seemed like a lot of the soloists went through the same struggles as 24 hour racers....nutritional problems, motivation, etc. Just on a larger scale. I was disappointed to see no coverage of the 2 person catagory as the owner of my team (Kevin Wallace, Gearsracing.com) and his riding partner won in a record time for the catagory. I guess because he is Canadian and the programming was NBC, they focused mostly on American riders.

Until next next time!

Steve

Tip #3 - Cold weather riding

2005-01-17T18:08:00.000-05:00

A bit of a delay since my last....work has been crazy. In case you were wondering what I do besides ride my bike, I work for a large IT company in sales and spend a lot of time on the road. Sometimes it makes it difficult to get out training so I always make sure if I am staying overnight there is a gym in the hotel. Family wise I am married with 2 kids who are just starting school. Needless to say I have a busy life!! Luckily I have an understanding wife about the training and I'll try to do as much training as possible in "off hours" for her. Meaning during the warmer months I am out by 6am riding and home before noon. Usually everyone is just dressed by then so it doesn't interrupt the normal day too much.

I've been doing lots of trainer and gym work this past week. Over the weekend I went for a long ride on the hardtail but stuck to the roads and city paths (which in many cases were a sheet of ice). About 3 hours riding. Luckily the ride was point (my house) to point (parents house) and the wind was at my back part of the way, otherwise I would have froze. The temperate was about -8 d Celsius, but -17 with the wind. It is amazing what a good set of winter riding gear can do.

Which leads me to the tip of the week. Winter riding. It is possible and I proved it with my ride over the weekend. The key is the right clothing. The most important place to keep warm is your head where you lose the most heat. I use a warm cycling hat (with a balaclava over top if it is really cold) and I am nice and toasty.

The other area most people have problems are their feet. Investing in a good pair of winter riding shoes is a must if you plan to do a lot. I have a pair of Sidi Storms. Make sure you get the winter shoes 1 size too big. You'll need the space by the time you put a pair of wool socks on and/or some neoprene socks. Over top of the shoes I use a pair of Pearl Izumi insulated shoe covers. That will keep you warm in the foot department. A last resort is to use the chemical foot warmers and put them in the bottom of your shoes. They work great but they can get expensive and you don't really need them except for extreme temperatures.

For your hands you can use just about any kind of ski gloves. I sometimes use Pearl Izumi AmFib lobster gloves and they are almost too warm! Otherwise a ski glove does the job.

Lastly your upper body and legs. The key is layering. You want your first layer to be sometime technical that wicks the sweat away from your body. Then a warm, insulated cycling jacket, and finally a windbreaker. Leg wise you don't always need as many layers. Because your legs are doing most of the work riding that is where the blood goes and it keeps your muscles warm. Usually a pair of insulated tights overtop regular cycling shorts will do the job. For the cold days perhaps some long johns, but that is about it.

Well only 33 days left under the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. I am going to have to bring most of my winter clothes for this race. Last year it was around the freezing mark during the night. The desert is interesting that way. It just can't hold the heat from the daytime. Sometimes though you will ride through a warm pocket of air and it is such a relief....unfortunately it doesn't last long.

Until next time!

Steve

Tip of the week #2 - Training Camps

2005-01-11T10:30:00.000-05:00

You've all heard about professional riders attending training camps prior to the start of their season. Usually they are in some exotic destination with warm weather and fabulous riding. I used to read about them and think about how great it would be to get 2 weeks of nothing but focused training in with no interruptions. Unfortunately for most of us it is too expensive travel for something like this, but you don't need to! Why not set up your own training camp with your base location being your house? This is what I have been doing for the past few years. I pick a 2 week period at least 1 month before my first race and start the camp (make sure you have some sort of base fitness already). I treat myself like I am a professional rider 24 hours a day. Typically I will try to get a good nights sleep. Eat a healthy breakfast. Go for a 5-8 hour ride. These rides are mostly long distance endurance rides with some occasional intervals sprinkled in. Come home and have a nap. Eat a good dinner. Prep for the coming season doing things such as: correspondance with sponsors, preparing strategies for upcoming races, preparing equipment, etc. Then it is too bed. The next day I'll start it all over again. Typically I will ride 2-3 days on (depending on mileage) and then one day off for rest/recovery. That rest day I might work in the garden, get a massage, go for walk or just enjoy a day off. Repeat this schedule for 2 weeks. The importance of this period is to put some strain on your body over and above what it is used to during normal training. Come race day your body will be better prepared for the rigours it will face racing your bike for 24 hours. It has worked for me and should work for you too!

Steve

New Route

2005-01-09T18:36:00.000-05:00

I spent the day today mapping a new route out for training rides on the road. I do a lot of riding on the road, about 2/3 is spent on the road bike. I don't do a lot of training on the MTB bike. Most of the MTB riding is either racing or going for fun rides with friends. The new route I mapped takes me about 120km which should take around the 4 hour mark, maybe a little more. With a family it is hard to get in rides much longer than this. When I do my training camp in late March or early April (weather permitting) I will try to do this ride 5 days a week with one of the days potentially being two times around this circuit. That will certainly build up my endurance, plus it will get me eating during the ride which will be good practice for race day.

During Winter training it is impossible to get in 4 hour rides with the weather. I can handle the cold weather with every part of my body but my feet. No matter what I do I can't keep them warm. Right now I wear Sidi Winter Shoes (one size too big) with wool socks, neoprene socks, and winter booties. I still get cold in below zero weather. Thus training rides don't last much longer than 3 hours (1:40 on the trainer today). This will keep my conditioning decent for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo (www.epicrides.com) but by no means in winning form. It is just impossible to get that form unless I move to warmer climates!! I can't wait for my training camp! More on that in the next blog (Monday tips!).

Later!

Steve

Rest day today

2005-01-05T09:35:00.000-05:00

Went for another good ride yesterday. It was a little bit chilly, about -5 but I survived for almost 2 hours. My legs felt a little bit sluggish, probably from increasing the amount of riding I am doing. I'm going to take a recovery day today just to keep myself on track (plus it is damn freezing outside with ice on the ground).

The forcast doesn't look any better for the next few days....apparantly a big storm coming tomorrow so I will hit the gym instead of riding. Hopefully things clear for the weekend.

I'm thinking of adding another race to my calendar this season, specifically the 24 Hours of 9 Mile (www.24-9.com). The race looks pretty good. I got some good info from Jeff Kerkove (www.jeffkerkove.blogspot.com) about the race and it seems like it is pretty professional. The only thing holding me back is it is only 3 weeks before another 24 hour (24 Hours of Albion) race I have already entered. Last year when I did races 3 weeks apart I had a horrible 2nd race. I don't think I recovered properly. 4 weeks apart and I'm good to go. We'll see this year.

Later!

Tip of the Week #1 - Nutrition

2005-01-03T13:51:00.000-05:00

Every Monday I am going to try to post a tip about 24 Hour Solo MTB racing for all those people I know want to try one of these events but just are not quite sure yet.

Your body stores about 100,000 calories in the form of fat on your body (give or take). So you have plenty of fuel to get through a 24 hour period. During a race, don't be concerned about replacing every calorie you spend (probably 800+ per hour). Your body can only process about 300 calories per hour....much more than that and it just goes to waste and increases your chances of gastointestinal problems.

Went for another ride today....only just bit more than 2 hours. Felt great though. I ride specific routes so I know how long it should take me....that way I usually know how I am riding.

Later.

Happy New Year

2005-01-01T20:14:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to everyone!! I spent a fairly quiet New Year with my family. We went to the "family style" New Years party at East Side Mario's with the kids. They give out party favours, streamers, hats etc. to make it fun for the kids. Shrek was even there!

I went out for my traditional New Years Day ride this morning. It was a blustery 0 degrees, but about -7 with the windchill so I tried not to ride into the wind too much. I got in about 2h 40m of riding which was nice for a change. I felt pretty good actually. I hope to get in a lot more training now that I am completely healthy. I have been sick since the beginning of October when I got the flu shot. Strange how that happens!! With a non-stop cold, 2 bouts of strep throat, and a chest infection I was out of commission for quite awhile. About 8 days of training in each of November and December. Oh well, an extended rest phase. Back to the grind though.

My first race is the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo in Tuscon, Arizona on February 19-20. My conditioning is never great for this race. Training is so hard in January/February as the snow and temperatures are just insane in Oakville.

As I reflect on the 2004 Season a few stats for you:
7,871KM ridden/raced
387 hours on the bike
3 x 24 hour solo races
1 x 12 hour solo race
best race - 12 Hour Battery Burner
worst race - 24 Hours of Summer Solstice

For 2005 I am racing with the GearsRacing.com team which will be nice. I hope to race in at least 5 x 24 hour events and possibly a few regular races throughout the year. So far I am committed to the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo in February, the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice (largest 24 hour race in North America) in June and the 24 Hours of Albion in August. In May I will be doing either the Burn 24 Hour (North Carolina) or 24 Hours of Boyne (Michigan). Hopefully I will get one in on the August long weekend and perhaps one in September as well.

Off to watch a movie now and for tomorrow I'll probably just hit the trainer and then off to play poker and watch football in the afternoon.

Later!

First Blog

2004-12-23T13:21:00.000-05:00

Well, I just got this page set up and will try to post my first blog. The purpose of this page is to provide updates on my training and racing progress as I tackle the strange sport of 24 Hour Solo mountain biking. I also hope to make it a resource for other Mountain Biker's to use when learning more about riding and racing in endurance event.

I have been racing in 24 hour events for the past 6 years, gradually moving from team participation to solo participation. It's been awhile since I did a team race. In the past I have done 3-4 24 hour races per year with a few shorter ones sprinkled in. For 2005 I plan to do at least 5 and maybe more. We'll see.

Stay tuned.