thescrawnycyclist

Yearly review

2011-12-25T12:31:00.003-05:00

Sorry, no winter bike build to follow this year! Mostly just posting a placeholder where I can keep my race records. I might be making an announcement pertaining to the 2012 racing season some time in the new year though.

Both race series ended prematurely due to injury - L!B 12 mile series ended with a giant gash in my knee, and my cyclocross season was cut short due to a rotator cuff injury caused by a bad crash on a muddy descent (wasn't even racing, it was a casual mtb ride!) Otherwise, I think the racing went well - top 20's and 2nd in M20-29 in the L!B 12-mile series, and several top-5's including 2 podiums in CX.

On the road, the only racing I did was the club's Tuesday nighters (and whenever I felt like attacking the hills on the club rides), but I did ride more than 8,000km over the year.

Cyclocross (S4/Cat 4)
Barrie - 6th (-1'15")
Durham - 3rd
Hillbilly - 4th (-1'44")
Guelph - 4th (-1'20")
Conky's - 5th (-1'00")
Firemen's - 6th (-1'41")
Colden - 2nd

L!B 12-Mile series
2nd overall M20-29
#1 - 14th 49:39
#2 - 17th 43:26
#4 - 18th 43:13
#5 - 16th 42:12
#6 - 18th 42:02

Barrie CX

2011-10-23T15:15:00.003-04:00

Just a quick report...
The course was pretty much flat, except for one run/ride-up (I ran it), and suited more for power riders. It was cold, sunny and frost covered the grass initially, but it warmed up very quickly so I had to shed a couple layers.
My start was okay, I lined up first row and over the first few laps I traded positions between 3rd and 5th wheel. There were a few attacks but they didn't last long and I just caught back on. On the last lap, one guy who came up from behind threw down an attack and took off, the others followed but I couldn't respond so I finished some time back in 6th.

I haven't decided whether it's worth it to continue this season or not, I enjoy the racing but it's getting frustrating always finishing just off the podium, and the driving is getting expensive. I don't know, it depends what the weather is like in the following weeks I suppose.

Old bike...new bike

2011-10-16T21:51:00.003-04:00

Built up a Giant XTC frame using all the parts (except the seatpost and headset) from my old Kona Hei Hei. Don't get me wrong, the Hei Hei is an amazing XC race frame, but having a full-suspension bike isn't necessary for my purposes so I decided to ditch the extra weight of the rear shock and linkage assembly. The main reason I chose the XTC was the bargain-basement price, but also the geometry and hydroformed tubing.
The Kona was about 10.6kg, and the Giant is 9.8kg, which is a good weight despite 'outdated' components and no carbon fibre. All I have to do is chop about 4cm off the steer tube (hence the spacer stack) but if the trails were dry I'd be out riding.

New vs. Old comparison shots

Durham CX

2011-10-09T15:43:00.003-04:00

Superb weather for today's race...sunny and warm. The course presented itself as a mountain biker's course, with a rooty run-up to start, a long dirt/gravel climb with another rooty run-up at the top (just to make the legs burn more), some trail, and a super gnarly sandy descent. There was a couple of fast gravel road sections and typical North American stake-and-tape course as well.

I was off to a good start, but the two leaders quickly blew by me. I powered up the long climb in an effort to pass as many slow M3's as I could, but there was still a bottleneck at the run-up, and I had to pick through more random M3 riders when I could through the trails and road sections with sharp elbows and wits. The sandy descent didn't favour my skills, and admittedly, I lost a lot of time there as I was on the brakes pretty much the whole way down.

With 3 laps to go, one of my competitors caught up and stayed on my tail for a lap, but halfway through the 2nd last lap he put in an attack at the right time and left me in the dust. On the last lap, I caught a glimpse of another competitor drilling it up the long climb behind me, I wasn't going to let myself lose another position so adrenalin kicked in and I probably rode through the trails and down the descent faster than any other lap. It worked and I crossed the line in what I presumed to be 4th spot, kind of disappointed to lose a podium spot again.

However, there's a little twist to this story. The race leader had a crash and took himself out of the race, so I got bumped up a position. 3rd place by default woohoo! I've been trying so hard to get on that podium, so this is pretty awesome.

Can't make it to the Toronto CX races next weekend due to their weird scheduling so it looks like the next race is in Barrie.

Hillbilly Hustle CX

2011-10-02T15:23:00.002-04:00

For your blogging interest, my race report for the Hillbilly Hustle cyclocross race near Collingwood.

First, let me set the scenario for the weather. It's overcast, chilly, with a lovely north wind coming off the lake. To give you an idea, I was wearing the following clothing articles: long-sleeve base layer, wind-blocking long sleeve mid-layer, long-sleeve jersey, fleece-lined bib knickers, wool socks, wind-blocking midweight gloves, and a skull cap. And I was still a bit chilled. Oh, and to top it off, it was sleeting. I know winter is coming, but so soon?

Anyways, the course was pretty much dry, somewhat long, wet grass and a few small puddles but nothing that couldn't be avoided. Most of the course was flat and power-oriented, with a couple long climbs, a semi-forced run-up, a spiral, and a short section on singletrack thrown in for fun.

I got off to a pretty good start, head-to-head for the holeshot and sitting second or third wheel for much of the first lap, but then things went downhill from there. We caught up to the bulk of the M3's coming into the singletrack, which created a bottleneck. After the first lap, I was not coping well with the wind and the chill; technically, I think I was riding very well (except for the singletrack), but it just felt like I could not put down any power, so I dropped down to 4th wheel with no chance of recovery. To be honest, with the guys who ended up podium, I think I would have ended up 4th anyways, but I'd rather feel like I had to earn that spot.

So I ended up 4th, no consolation prize this time. I will stand on that podium by the season's end.

Guelph Cross

2011-09-25T15:25:00.002-04:00

Fourth 'cross race of the year was in Guelph, Ontario. I'll start by saying I'm very happy with the way this race went. The course was super fast and seemed to suit my abilities, so I think I rode very well, I had great competition with two others, and most importantly I had a lot of fun.

The race official didn't give us any warning, so when the siren went off I don't think anybody was prepared. Somehow, I managed to have a great start and took the holeshot, and led the field up the first climb and back down the fast gravel path. The usual race winner and a couple others took over the lead after a while, and after a couple of spills in front of me, I figured I was sitting in 5th or so. I got in to a group with two others and we had a great battle. There were some sections where I was faster, and some sections where the others were better. I took the opportunity to practice some race techniques, like overtaking in corners (successfully I might add), leaning the bike into and powering out of corners, and staying on attacks. The course was open with lots of opportunities to overtake, so passing slow M3's was not a big deal.

On the last lap is where my mistake occurred. As stated above, I figured as a group, we were battling for fifth, so I didn't really care so much. One guy put in a dig with a few hundred meters left, and the other racer and myself couldn't hang on. So it came down to a two-man sprint. The other guy started his sprint early; I'm not much of a sprinter but I was gaining in the last few meters but just lost at the line. I was quite upset to learn that we were battling for a podium spot! I ended up in 4th, 1'20" down from the leader. Lesson learned - always ride like it's for the win!

Nevertheless, as said before, I had a great time and I feel I rode very well. I do believe that I'm racing much better and faster than last year...the problem is that there are a few new guys who are faster yet.

Race reports: Niagara cyclocross weekend

2011-09-18T16:02:00.004-04:00

This weekend was a double-header of cyclocross racing - Saturday's race in Niagara Falls organized by Jeff Moote, and Sunday in St. Catharines organized by Nathan Chown.

Jeff's course was difficult and highly technical, with lots of climbing and off-camber terrain, some singletrack, and a short run-up. A few chances to go for a swim in the pond as well. In contrast, Nathan's course was very power-oriented, with flat-ish terrain and a few long straight sections. It was still challenging though, with lots of corners (some blind) and a bit of loose terrain.

On Saturday, I nearly missed my start because Dan borrowed my bike to run up the road. My start was okay, I kind of filtered to mid-pack and kept up with the lead train for a lap or so. The terrain and my mediocre skills soon got the best of me though and I lost the leaders; not to mention that I'm quite terrible at run-ups (short legs will do that). As Jeff K. said, 'we are getting owned on our own course!'. I was riding smoothly putting in pretty consistent lap times, and on the last lap I started to close in on Ryan J. so I opened up the taps in attempt to catch up. I got fairly close, but he rode away in the technical sections and finished 10 seconds behind. Out of the 12 that started, I finished in 6th with a gap of 1'41" to the leader. I think I rode well, just not fast enough.

On to Sunday's race. I fouled up my start but stayed with the lead pack, and with a few guys sliding out and crashing on loose/blind corners (Jeff K.), I found myself in the lead for about a half lap. I got hung out to dry in the headwind on one of the long stretches though and quickly found myself sitting second wheel going in to lap 2. We started to catch up to the slow M3 racers, and I ended up getting stuck behind a few while the race leader rode away. A couple others caught and passed me on the power sections again, so now it was a race for 4th. The last couple laps was a game of cat-and-mouse between 4th, 5th, and 6th wheel. It came down to a sprint between the three of us, and I just managed to get 5th place, 1'00" behind the lead. I think this race went better, but I need more confidence in the corners and overtaking slower racers.

So that is my somewhat brief report of racing this weekend. Next weekend is Guelph for Southern Ontario Cup race #2.

Race report: Colden CX

2011-09-11T14:57:00.004-04:00

For the first cyclocross race of the year, I headed down to Colden, NY with Jeff K. to race in Cat. 4. The course was tough, with lots of up and down, a flat power section, a run-up through a sandbox and one set of barriers. Warming up, the grass was wet so it was slick, but things dried up as the temperature rose.
I wasn't familiar with any of the other Cat 4 racers lining up, so I didn't know what to expect. The start was a uphill, but paved, and the first corner was a 180 degree turn, which I figured would be sketchy. I lined up in the 2nd row and when the horn sounded I went for it. I guess none of the other riders knew how to start a cyclocross race, because I got the holeshot and as I entered the first corner I had a large gap on the field. I looked back a few times to see if anybody was coming to challenge, and the marshals told me not to worry about what was behind.
I led the whole first lap, then on the flat section, finally another rider caught me. I thought I could work with him to stay away, but he just ended up riding me off his wheel. The rest of the race was fairly uneventful, I just kept a sustainable pace as the gap behind and in front kept growing. I lapped a bunch of riders, and a few riders in the Masters category did catch and pass me in the final couple of laps. On the 2nd last lap my chain decided to fall off, but I fixed it and continued without any penalty. The last lap my legs were done and starting to cramp a little so I couldn't power up hills or out of corners.

Anyways, I finished 2nd in the Cat 4 race, about 2 minutes behind the leader, and Jeff came in a little while later for 3rd. A good start to this year's cyclocross season :)

L!B 12-mile series #7

2011-08-24T20:58:00.002-04:00

Well there is a first time for everything, and that was the first time I've ever DNF'ed a race. I had just mounted my bike and started to hammer when I tangled handlebars with another rider and we both went down. The other rider got up and went on to finish but I couldn't get up for a few seconds and was trying to grab my sunglasses, which had ejected to the middle of the path, before they got run over (gotta save the gear!) By the time I got up I was last, and as I did a superman and impacted my shoulders a bit, I decided to do the walk of shame back to the start line. Also my left knee was bleeding quite profusely.

Oh well, bad things happen and there's still one more race to prove my podium spot. Thanks Kurt for cleaning up my wounds.

L!B 12-mile series #6

2011-08-10T21:00:00.007-04:00

Speed was the name of the game for the 6th installment of the Liberty! Bicycles 12-mile series. Attendance was down slightly so there was less kerfuffle at the start. The trails were very grippy and fast. I had a lot of challengers to keep me motivated and alert.

At the start I found myself in a train of 4 or 5 others with gaps ahead and behind, so the first section of singletrack was super fast. The train got split up with the stronger/more skilled riders opening up a gap and I found myself behind one other rider, and nobody behind me. He was good but seemed to struggle a bit on the power sections, so in the park I dropped the hammer and overtook him. Shortly after I caught up to Scott N., who was awesome to follow through the singletrack. I may have put a little bit too much pressure on him though, as he was dry-heaving on the final singletrack section :)

I put in a dig after exiting the singletrack to see if I could drop the 4 others that were now with me, but they weren't having any of my shenanigans and stuck to my wheel. None of them were in my age cat. so I didn't bother too much with a sprint finish....or in reality I just can't sprint. ;)

Waiting on results, but it felt like I was drilling it for the most part so it should be very fast and seal my podium spot in the 20-29 age category!

Update: Results are in, 18th with a time of 42:02. The times keep getting faster.

L!B 12-mile series #5

2011-07-27T21:24:00.008-04:00

In all of the cyclo-cross training and racing I've done, I've always mounted my bike from the left. So I didn't make the same mistake twice and parked my bike on the right side of the corral. Therefore, no mounting fail at the beginning of tonight's race of the Liberty! Bicycles 12-mile series, and a good start; I was able to see the lead train of yellow Liberty! jerseys in the distance on the gravel path. A fast start is crucial to get to the single-track before the bottleneck effect happens.

After exiting the first bit of single-track and getting on to the service road, I actually caught up to Dan D. and motivated him through the next single-track portion. I was feeling strong and even started to consider an overtake. Then things kind of turned for the worse. I hit some sort of debris, washing out my front wheel and nearly hitting a tree. Then on an incline, I Schleck'ed my chain, causing me to nearly go over the handlebars. Tommy W. took that opportunity to overtake me. I did gain one position back after catching and passing Tom F. but after that, there was nobody in front of behind, so I relaxed slightly to avoid any further mishaps.

I feel the race overall went well, besides a couple of minor mishaps, and I finished in 16th with a time of 42:12. Nice fast time.

Comical sight of the race - Jeff K. in an aero tuck like he's descending the Alps, but going 30kph on a 2% decline on the gravel path.

L!B 12-mile series #4

2011-07-13T21:37:00.003-04:00

I missed the L!B 12-mile race #3, so I had to make up for it and have a good race on #4 tonight.

I had a fail on mounting my bike properly, and after that it was in to the dust storm. In all the past years I've done the 8x12 series, I've never seen dust like there was tonight. Passing was particularly difficult because I literally could not see more than 5 feet in front of my wheel. Had to use my knowledge of the course to know if there was a corner coming up.

In the singletrack the dust settled and my lungs were hurting, but there were no mishaps along the way and I actually gained a few positions, and found myself in a group of 5 or so. Usually I'm by myself so it was great motivation to follow a wheel through the trails and have people behind to keep me on my toes. Nearing the end, I saw a neon-blue Niner ahead on the trails...it was Shawn. He is good competition for me so I attacked the gravel hill leading to Suzanne's trail to leave my group behind and bridge up to Shawn. Followed him through the trail, but on the last dirt road he put in a dig that I couldn't respond to. At the finish line, the Shorthills Cycling Club donated to me the most satisfying can of Coca-Cola ever.

I crossed the line in 18th with a time of 43:13. All-in-all a good race even though I'll be hacking up limestone dust for a while.

Evening kayak

2011-06-26T23:57:00.002-04:00

Photos - evening kayak with @mad_mahler

L!B 12-mile series #2

2011-06-15T22:59:00.004-04:00

Trail conditions were much better than last week, only a couple small wet sections left, the rest is bone dry, there was even lots of dust!

My running start was not great, I got stuck in the mass but I got around a lot of them on the gravel path, and followed Shawn's wheel through the first bit of singletrack. He was riding too slow for my liking though so I made my move on a climb, then after that I was solo so I could concentrate on riding smoothly. Thanks to Shawn for probably blocking anyone who would have tried to chase me down :)
Crossing the creek I saw Gregg's orange jersey (he actually didn't cheat this time) so in Suzanne's trail, chase mode turned back on. I'm not that skilled on the technical sections, so he gapped me a bit, but I was able to catch back up when the course straightened out. On the final service road stretch, a battle ensued but he got me on the sprint finish. I'll get him one of these times.

With more ideal conditions the pace was noticeably higher, but there were more fast guys out tonight so I finished in 17th with a time of 43:26. Still in the top 20, which is cool. And I'm having fun the whole time.

L!B 12-mile series #1

2011-06-09T08:44:00.004-04:00

Last night at the first race of the Liberty! Bicycles 12-mile series was the first time my mountain bike had been outside since the Squeezer. What are these big squishy tires, springy fork and flat handlebar? Huh, you can ride a bike on dirt?
The air at the start was hot and muggy, but full of excitement. As it was in previous years, there was a running start, but no longer did we have to run all the way around the firefighter's compound...it was just a straight sprint for the bikes.

The course was mostly dry, but there were some spots that were very rutted and had mud puddles. No doubt riding 100+ bikes through the trails dispersed some of the mud. The new sections of singletrack were challenging, and there was more climbing...it's much more of a mountain bike course now.

I sprinted as hard as I could for my bike, and along the gravel path I worked my way through traffic but just missed being on the front group going in to the singletrack. My mtb skills are a bit rusty (not that they were great in the first place), but I believe I rode fairly smoothly, cyclocross skills and road fitness definitely helped. Had a couple minor mishaps where I took the wrong line but I kept finding myself behind Bittman, until I made an error and he took off. I then had a good battle with a couple other racers going in to Suzanne's, and on the service road going in to the finish my roadie skills took over and I put the hammer down to get rid of them.

At the finish I was exhausted, sweaty, and covered in mud. But through all that I still managed to finish in ~~14th~~ 13th place (because Bittman is a cheater), with a time of 49:39. Pretty good for a roadie with no skills, and a better placement than I had ever done in the prior 8x12 series. I've discovered who my rivals are so I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!

Evening ride in black-and-white

2011-05-30T21:49:00.004-04:00

Here's what my ride would look like if the world was all black-and-white and super contrasty.

Another month, another blog post

2011-05-17T12:58:00.002-04:00

If you haven't figured it out yet, I don't have much to blog about these days. Unlike last year, I'm not posting every minor update to my blog (like reporting on a club ride or TT), but I am posting updates on Twitter. So if you want to keep up with my daily happenings, please feel free to stalk me on Twitter. Blog posts should resume come CX season!

If you have any suggestions for a blog post you want me to write (product review? photos? random whateverness?) then please leave a comment below.

I have nothing to report

2011-04-19T23:03:00.002-04:00

Sheesh I haven't updated my blog in almost a month. I've been hibernating. Is it spring yet? Looking at the weather lately, it sure doesn't seem like it. Today's page on The Weather Network says Storm Watch for a "Wintery Mix". I'd much prefer "Springy Delight".

I don't have reports for the first races of the season like everyone else, but I have just been enjoying riding my bike when I can, and getting back in to shape. Since returning from SC, I've done a few club rides with the St. Catharines Cycling Club and a couple short rides in between, and with each ride I've been feeling stronger. I'm still working on my 'power-on-demand' to hang on to the surges and for the climbs, but it's still early in the season, the strength will eventually come back, particularly when I start riding the Tuesday training races and Thursday TT's. The Liberty! Bicycles 12-Mile series is approaching fast as well, so I can re-discover how crap I am at navigating trails.

As for my Octto, it has been treating me very well thus far. The fit feels like it's dialed in perfectly and I love how it smooths out the rough Niagara road system. I've become accustomed to the handling, although it is very race-oriented, it does not feel twitchy any more.

South Carolina cycling vacation - Day 7 - Caesar's Head

2011-03-25T19:11:00.002-04:00

For the final day of riding here, most of us went to tackle the infamous Caesar's Head climb. It was a cool day so I decided to wear a long sleeve jersey and knickers since I figured it would be even cooler at the top. My legs did not have much power left in them so I wasn't going to 'race' up like the others, I just wanted to go at my own pace and make it to the top.

What an amazing experience, I've never done anything like that. I was the last to start (taking pics) but I caught a few riders along the way and met Jonathan from the other group who was good to pace with. It's just an endless climb and at first it seemed impossible, but eventually I got into a good rhythm stuck in the 39-25 most of the time. The climb, which was approx. 10km long and 620m (2,000ft) high, took me 45 minutes (I think almost 15 minutes slower than the fastest guy) but I wasn't there to race. The view from the top was totally worth it and the descent was awesome. We stopped for a delicious burger afterward which was much deserved for doing 7 full days on the bike.

Here are the pictures I took of the adventure to Caesar's Head - link

And the info from my Garmin...big up, big down - link

As I'm now packing my bags for the trip home tomorrow, I leave with the statement that this trip was an absolutely amazing experience and totally worth it. I'd love to come back here in the following years. Looks like I rode 460km and climbed over 7,000m (23,000ft) in the 7 days here. Thanks to Ben for the accommodation at the awesome house on Lake Keowee, many thanks to Dan for taking on the big job of organizing everything, and thanks to everyone else for sharing the experience here down in South Carolina.

See you back in chilly, snowy Niagara.

South Carolina cycling vacation - Day 6 - Clemson U

2011-03-24T21:00:00.002-04:00

On a blustery day we rode 'easy' again in to Clemson to Starbucks, and rode around the University campus a bit. Americans sure are proud of their universities...everything around the campus is orange and has tiger paws everywhere. We checked out the stadium (85,000 seats!) and then made our way back to the house.

Not too many pictures this time, just a few of the stadium and campus area - link

And the route info - link

Not sure what I'm going to do for the last day, after today my legs are feeling quite tired. It's definitely been a good week with lots of time on the bike. I'd like to climb Caesar's Head but I don't have the legs to do another 100k ride afterward. Have to see what happens.

South Carolina cycling vacation - Day 5 - Ride to North Carolina

2011-03-23T21:46:00.002-04:00

One of my goals this week was to ride to a different state. Georgia or North Carolina are the feasible options. I chose riding to North Carolina up Whitewater Falls Rd. (Hwy 130) because it would be a good climb in to the mountain range.

Since many others had plans of a huge ride down the Blue Ridge Parkway or mountain biking, it was just Chris and I left to tackle the ride to NC. We rode a fairly easy pace to the base of the mountain, then tackled the 500m (1,640ft) climb to the border. After a few pictures of the state signs, and with storm clouds looming, we booked it down the mountain and back through the town of Salem to get home before the rain. The ascent took us about 45 minutes and back down was 20 minutes hitting speeds of nearly 60kph. Could have gone faster but there was a head wind and the road surface was a bit rough. By the end we were definitely tired and took a nap on the comfy sofas until everyone else got back from their crazy rides.

The total ride time was 3h11m and we covered 74km with 1,345m (4,400ft) of climbing.

I think tomorrow is going to be an off day, or at the most a 1hr ride or so, to rest up for Friday's Caesar's Head climb.

Of course here is the ride info from my Garmin - link

And the pictures - link

Apparently there is like 15cm of snow back home...it's so awesome here I don't want to go home now...wonder if I can find a job down here so I can ride these fantastic roads every day.

South Carolina cycling vacation - Day 4 - Starbucks ride

2011-03-22T22:42:00.003-04:00

Yet another ride today in beautiful weather. Rode 64km round trip to Starbucks in Clemson with 785m of climbing. Had some very fast descents and riding on the 4-lane highway into Clemson was super fast. It was supposed to be just an easy spin but riding with Dan, Emily and Tobias, their 'easy' was still over 28kph average (which is not that easy to do around here).
After the stop for frappucinos was a long climb right away, then of course the two long climbs by the nuclear plant. It really started to get warm towards the end (my Garmin measured 35C for the last 15 mins or so) so I had to jump in the shower immediately afterward.

Of course here is the info from my Garmin - link

And a few pictures - link

In the 4 days of riding here I've climbed over 12,000ft and ridden almost 300km. Less than many of the others here but I've ridden more here than I have so far this year back home.

South Carolina cycling vacation - Day 3 - Circle around the north end of the lake

2011-03-21T20:06:00.003-04:00

Most of the people here went out to go climb in the mountains up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, but there were a few of us that just wanted to do a shorter, less mountainous ride.

I planned out a route around the north end of Lake Keowee and programmed the directions into my Garmin. Three of us (including myself) embarked on this ride at a moderate pace. The temperature was very warm today (mid-high 20C's) but it was quite windy...and it seemed like we had a headwind in every direction. Nonetheless it was a great ride and everyone was feeling much better than yesterday. We got a good 2.5hr ride in covering 67km with 913m of climbing. Afterwards we relaxed on the dock in the sun. Good times.

One thing I've noticed here is how everyone here is so laid-back and friendly. People will pass by in their cars and wave or give a friendly toot, and they are even content to wait patiently for an opportunity to pass. It's absolutely nothing like back home. One of the major highways through the area even has a bike lane.

Since this ride was slightly more relaxed I took a bunch of pictures - link here

And here is the route information from my Garmin - link here

South Carolina cycling vacation - Day 2 - First long ride

2011-03-20T18:14:00.002-04:00

So today we went out for the first long road ride, planned to be about a 3.5-4hr ride on 'flat' terrain. I say 'flat' because we didn't climb any mountains. However, the terrain is rolling (big rolls) and we ended up climbing more than 5,000ft in total.

It was quite a bit cooler today, about 16C, overcast, and windy.

I kind of underestimated the amount of climbing and since I haven't done any long rides since like last August, it was a big adjustment, so I was having a bit of trouble but I did eventually make it back to the house. It felt like riding a full century (or more) back in Niagara (a century is 100 miles).

Anyways, I took a few pictures along the way - link here

And here is the information from my GPS - link here

South Carolina cycling vacation - Day 1 - The road trip

2011-03-19T22:02:00.006-04:00

To satisfy curiousity, yes we arrived in Seneca, South Carolina at about 12:30pm today. All 21 of us. It was scorchingly hot when we arrived (86F/30C). Will fill this post out tomorrow since I'm running on nearly 40 hours with barely a wink of sleep and I'm crashing in to bed right now.

Okay, update with the content...
We met up in Niagara Falls to start the 1,300km trip to Seneca, South Carolina for a full week of cycling in the mountains. My driving shift started at about 1:30 in Pittsburgh and went through most of West Virginia to Beckley at about 5:30. I was tired but so wired because driving I-79 through WV in the middle of the night is so tricky; the hills and corners are just endless. The speed limit of 70mph was pretty much impossible to maintain driving a minivan. After my shift I tried to get some sleep but it wasn't easy to do because I can't really sleep in a moving vehicle...so I just stayed awake.

We arrived at the house on Lake Keowee at 12:30pm and got a shock from the temperature of 86F/30C. Unloaded the vehicles and headed over to Wal-Mart to get some groceries. After that we all did a short, easy ride just to get the legs moving. I hadn't slept in about 35hr at this point but I think it was worth it to see what the terrain was like. Here is the route we took - this isn't from my GPS since I ran out of batteries from playing with it in the car (had to see when we surpassed 1000m elevation...it was around the border going into SC) - Link here

And then we had dinner and I passed out in my bed at about 9pm.

Here is a link to the pictures I took on the road trip - Link here

Octto first ride

2011-02-20T15:30:00.003-05:00

The roads were mostly dry today, so me and my Ridiculously Bright Jacket© took the Octto out for it's first ride, before the imminent winter storm tonight. I got my new bike dirty! But that's okay, I already wiped it down with some detailing spray :)

First impressions - it's light, accelerates quickly and climbs very well. The handling is quick and nimble, it feels slightly twitchy but that's probably because I've been riding nothing but cyclocross bikes since last October. The geometry is very 'race' with a low front end and short wheelbase but despite this, the ride is surprisingly compliant even over rough surfaces. It was like a magic carpet ride compared to the super-stiff aluminum Norco CCX I use as a winter beater.
I like the fit. The reach felt a little short at first compared to the Norco, but once I settled into a proper position it was very comfortable, including the lower bar position which was not recommended for me. The 143mm wide Specialized Toupé Ti saddle is probably the best purchase I've made. My behind was not sore at all even with the poor chamois in my winter tights. Next I need new shoes, or at least different footbeds as my feet do not enjoy the Sidi's I have.

The obligatory mid-winter training post

2011-02-14T21:23:00.004-05:00

Since everyone has been blogging about winter training, coaching, spin classes, etc. I will discuss my mid-winter training progress. Quite simply, it's something I haven't been doing, unless shoveling the mounds of snow from a 30m driveway and 60m of sidewalk counts...which it doesn't, since all that pretty much does is screw up my back and shoulders.

Now that we're on the way out of the 'dead of winter', I'm getting anxious to get on my bike and back into shape. Sure, I could have stayed in better shape if I bought a trainer and spun mindlessly in my bedroom listening to Daft Punk, but to me, that ruins the experience of cycling. I love being outside, feeling the wind pass through my helmet and the warm rays of the sun on my shoulders. I love spending time with my friends, the silly little competitions on a group training ride, railing around corners and challenging myself to be a better rider. Although I'm certain there are some of you that will cite Rule #5 on me, I ride my bike because it's something I love to do, not something that I need to do.

What does the upcoming cycling season hold in store for me?
Well, first off, I'm going on a week-long trip to the north-west edge of South Carolina in late March with 19 (yes, that's nineteen) other cyclists. The main objective? We're going to ride our bikes. I can't wait for the epic rides through the mountains, and (I'm hoping) warm weather. Less than 5 weeks until we hit the road!

In the spring and summer, I'm going to ride my bikes, a lot. I want to ride more than last year. I want to ride smarter and stronger than last year. Jeff gave me some great tips on how to devise a typical training week, so I have a good idea on how I can improve my ability.
Now here's what I will not be doing this spring and summer - racing. Specifically, races in the Road and XC O-Cup schedule - I will still be competing in the local races (eg. L!B 8x12 series) and the club training races/TT's. Allow me to explain. Racing is very expensive; road race entry fees can be as high as $60, in addition to traveling and licensing costs. I need to start saving my money, and let's face it, I'm not the horse you should be betting on. I was also getting mixed up between racing XC and Road. If I went off on a MTB ride, I felt guilty that I wasn't getting in enough road miles; conversely, if I did a road ride before an XC race, I felt I wasn't getting enough skills practice on my mountain bike. I believe a sabbatical from competition will allow me to focus my training to become a better and stronger rider, making the cycling experience more enjoyable.

So, if I'm not racing, why bother with the training? Why not just join the Freewheelers and piddle around town? Seriously, you couldn't have already forgotten about the best cycling discipline of them all. It takes place in the autumn and is frequently muddy. I'm talking, of course, about cyclocross.
If you haven't figured it out already, I will be building up to take on cyclocross racing again this year. Last year, I competed in several Ontario and WNY races and had an absolute blast. I loved the personal challenge, the skills involved, and the rivalry. Although I was more-or-less mid-pack in the beginner category I always felt that I was actually competing in the races, not merely participating. I want to do more races this year...and maybe this time I will shoot for top third placement rather than top half!

So that's it...now I'm really itching to get on my bike. I'm so out of shape though...hopefully all the snow and crap clears off the roads soon; I need to prepare for the SC trip. Huh, training for a training camp...how about that.

Project Octto Part IV - Completed!

2011-01-29T18:07:00.003-05:00

I got tired of looking at my Octto sitting there with an overgrown steer tube, so I took the fork down to Clarkson Cycle in Thorold and had it cut down. I intentionally left a little extra above the stem in case I need to adjust the height slightly. I installed the expansion plug and set the preload on the bearings, and Project Octto was complete!

To recap the build:
Frameset - Octto Series Reference 48cm (XS)
Drivetrain - Shimano Dura-Ace 7800
Chain - KMC X10-SL
Brakes - Planet X CNC Ultralight
Pedals - Look Keo Carbon
Handlebars - 3T Ergonova Pro 40cm wrapped w/ Octto Pro Gel tape
Stem - 3T ARX Pro 90mm
Seatpost - Octto Attempt Grade
Saddle - Specialized BG Toupe Ti
Wheels 1 - Reynolds Assault w/ Vittoria Open Corsa CX tires
Wheels 2 - Kinlin XR-200 rims, White Industries H2/H3 hubs, Vittoria Open Pave CG tires

Total weight as shown is 6.95kg.

Pics - I don't have a lot of room to work with so there's only a couple.
Thanks for reading my blogs on this build, it gave me something to do over the winter.
I'll continue posting adventures in the future.

Race schedule 2011

2011-01-10T22:06:00.002-05:00

The OCA has put up their preliminary calendar for the 2011 race season. I've taken a look at it and posted up my tentative schedule on the right sidebar.
There are some interesting races proposed, there are some new venues and different dates. The XC O-Cup at Albion is later, Good Friday road races are not an O-Cup this year, Bike the Bruce is early, and the Niagara Classic is 3 months later than usual. Overall it looks like a good spread.
Will I compete in all the races I listed? No, there are many factors which will dictate my race plans. I enjoy Bike the Bruce, and last year in July the conditions were great for a long weekend of camping. This year in May, however, it will be much cooler. The later date for Niagara Classic may be beneficial as I will have more time to train for it.
More or less, I will be playing it by ear, as I want to condition myself more for cyclocross rather than road or mtb racing.

The 2010 review post

2011-01-01T14:57:00.005-05:00

Here's the customary review of my 2010 cycling endeavors. This won't be a super-long post, just mostly review the racing.

Road racing: I only did two official road races this year, so the best performance was obviously Bike the Bruce, where I stayed with the pack and had a decent placement in the sprint finish. My worst performance was Niagara Classic. The fast pace and multiple climbs up Saylor's took it's toll on me and I got destroyed going into the last lap.

MTB racing: My best race was definitely the Squeezer. The course is familiar to me, and not overly technical, so I hammered the whole race and finished in the top 60. I love doing this race simply as a gauge of my improvement over the previous year. I'm not sure if there is a 'worst' MTB race, as I wasn't overwhelmed by any of the courses, but I guess based on results, and my epic trip over the handlebars - Mansfield.

Cyclocross racing: I discovered that I really love cyclocross this year, and between mid-September and the end of November, there were only two weekends that I didn't race (despite the Squeezer not being CX, it was still racing). I participated in races around Niagara/GTA and a bunch of events in WNY. I won the first race of the season, and although the tougher competition wasn't there it still felt great. I discovered who my rivals are and challenged myself to beat them. I improved my skills with each race and practice session.
According to crossresults.com my best race was at Kissing Bridge. I don't quite agree with this but I do think the previous weekend at Delaware Park was my best race. I thought I was done for the season but I put in a huge effort on this race and was very happy with my performance. The worst race I did was, oddly, just the weekend before in Rochester. The course and I simply did not get along and I rode like crap. I found out that I actually do enjoy more technical courses. This might be tied with ZM Turkey Cross, the course was kind of goofy in sections and I'm not good at run-ups.

As I go into my fifth year of cycling competitively, my focus will be on cyclocross. I want to do more races, and perhaps try a couple of series races in the US. Road racing may be limited to just the Tuesday-nighters, but maybe I will do one or two O-Cups depending on the situation of the M3/S4 fiasco. For MTB, if L!B brings back the 8x12 series I'll definitely be doing those, and likely the Lake-to-Lake and Squeezer again. In the XC O-Cup series I am now in the Master Sport 30-34 category, so maybe I will do a couple of those races and not get shouted at by Juniors.

2010 race results:

Road:
May 23 - Niagara Classic - 1h51'52" (-6'33") 36th S4
July 25 - Bike the Bruce - 1h23'16" (0'00") 8th S4

MTB:
Apr 25 - O-Cup #1 Mansfield - 1h33'47" (-17'19") 25th Sr.Sport
May 30 - O-Cup #3 Hardwood Hills - 1h42'03" (-19'54") 21st Sr.Sport
June 20 - Lake-to-Lake - 2h11'34" 58th overall, 2nd place team
Aug 8 - O-Cup #6 Kelso - 1h30'08" (-15'24") 20th Sr. Sport
Sep 26 - L!B Off-Road Squeezer - 1h27'49" 57th overall; 18th M20-29

CX:
Sep 11 - Jump the Cheeseburger - 1st S4
Sep 18 - Sprague Brook - 16th (-1 lap) Open Sr. Men
Oct 10 - ZM Turkey Cross - 15th (-3'37") S4
Oct 16 - Toronto UCI Day 1 - 10th (-4'17") S3/S4
Oct 17 - Firemen's Park - 5th (-5'39") Open
Oct 23 - Kelso Day 1 - 9th (-4'42") Sportif
Oct 24 - Kelso Day 2 - 9th (-3'28") S4
Oct 31 - NY State Champs - 20th (-5'08") Cat 3/4
Nov 7 - Delaware Park - 13th (-1 lap) Open Sr. Men
Nov 13 - Kissing Bridge - 12th (-1 lap) Open Sr. Men
Nov 28 - Riverdale Park - 6th (-2'46") S4

Wishing many awesome cycling adventures in the New Year to everyone.

Project Octto - Part III - Partial Completion

2010-12-27T18:12:00.003-05:00

I've installed a bunch of parts, so here is a sneak preview of what Project Octto is going to look like finished. I can sit on it and pretend to be riding now.

Obviously there are still lots of things to be done - trim the steer tube, install front brake, run cabling, install chain, and bar tape...and some personal touches of course. But it is starting to look like a bike. The 3T components match perfectly, and I even think that the Shimano Dura-Ace 7800 group looks great on it.

Update Jan 1, 2011:

Project Octto is nearly completed, the only tasks that remain are trimming the steer tube and installing the compression plug/headset cap. I know what you're thinking, but I put everything together to get the right cable lengths and set the handlebar height. I simply have to undo the front brake cable and remove the stem/handlebar assembly to remove the fork. I'm not sure if that will get done this weekend, as it is dependent on who I can get to help me with the cutting. A final photo shoot will follow shortly, and a ride report in a couple of months, maybe...
Final weight will be 7.0kg as pictured, about 150g lighter than the Garneau. If I felt like using the aluminum wheels with Vittoria Open Corsas and the ultra-light skewers, it would be approaching the UCI weight limit of 6.8kg. Quite light-weight considering it has an outdated groupset, clincher wheels and aluminum handlebars.
The build went smoothly, with the exception that the white hoods and cables do get dirty if you just look at them. Nevertheless I am very satisfied with the appearance of the bike, I think the black-and-white theme is classy with a splash of bright aluminum to finish it off. The bike is far more awesome than I am, but I work hard and deserve to have something I can take pride in.

Project Octto - Part II - Componentry

2010-12-18T12:47:00.003-05:00

Next update on Project Octto. It isn't built up yet as I'm waiting for a few parts to come in (bottom bracket cups, stem, cables), and I still need to set the crown race on the fork and cut the steer tube down.

I removed the components from my Louis Garneau Sonix 6.4 and gave them a bit of a clean-up. Last picture before it was stripped of it's glory:

Thus, here's a comprehensive list of what is going to make up Project Octto:

Drivetrain:
Shimano Dura-Ace 7800 shift levers, derailleurs, and crankset. In my opinion D-A 7800 is the best functioning groupset, even though the looks are slightly garish, and it's not the lightest. Cassette is Shimano Ultegra since it's more durable and a third the cost of Dura-Ace. For the chain, I will be using a KMC X10-SL. I've been using this chain on my Stevens Super Prestige, and even though it is very light, it works perfectly.

Brakes: Using the super-light Planet-X brakes again. They look sweet on the frame. But if I can't get them properly centered, I'll probably throw them out the window.

Cockpit/Finishing: 3T Ergonova Pro handlebar, 3T ARX Pro stem, Specialized Toupé Ti 143 saddle, Look Kéo Carbon pedals, and 53g Ti skewers from Toronto Cycles. Handlebar tape will be Octto Pro Gel.

Wheels/Tires: Reynolds Assault carbon clinchers with Vittoria Open Corsa CX tires (shown below on my LG) or Kinlin XR200 rims laced to White Industries H2/H3 hubs with Vittoria Open Pave CG tires. The UD carbon finish of the Assaults will complement the frame finish perfectly.

So that is what's going to turn the Octto into a fast race machine. With all the black and white, it's going to end up looking like an OPP cruiser.
On the next update, maybe I'll actually have the build started. That might be a while though, since I still need to finish building up my Norco CCX1. I don't want to ride the Stevens on salty roads.

Project Octto: Part 1

2010-12-08T21:33:00.003-05:00

Since there isn't much better to blog about these days, I will be documenting the build-up of my new Octto Series Reference frameset.

As stated in my previous post, knowing the dimensions I need, and having a good excuse to buy a new frameset, I set off on a quest to research and compare different frames. The problem is, most small size mass-produced frames have odd geometries, including very steep seat-tube angles, which would put me back to requiring a ton of setback, thus increasing the reach. This makes no sense at all. Being small is just as hard to find the right bike as being tall.

At the Riverdale 'cross race, I came across a very intriguing bike sitting in front of an Octto display tent. I spoke with the rep and researched the frame. I was very impressed with the finish and construction of the frame, as well as the concept behind it. The people behind the Octto brand worked with developing the geometry for Cervelo bikes, and the geometry system makes sense. I won't go in to detail here, but basically, this geometry will work for me; in particular, the seat tube is not a stupid 75deg+, but a much more suitable 73deg. Another factor (a big one) is the price...which was surprisingly reasonable, even including a carbon seatpost and a headset.

I have high praise for Glenn (the sales rep). I was expecting to have to drive to Toronto (which, with the wintery weather now, would suck), but with a few back-and-forth emails, he sourced a 48cm (XS) frameset, took care of all the arrangements, and delivered it, in person, to Clarkson Cycle in Thorold. Wow. Talk about customer service.

Now getting to the actual build. I'm not in any rush to get it built up, since it's kind of hard to ride when there's mounds of snow on the road, but come spring (and the upcoming SC training camp) it should be an awesome ride.

I will be building it with my current Dura-Ace 7800 groupo with a 3T Pro cockpit, and a couple of weight-weenie bits along the way. The wheels will be a choice between the Kinlin XR200/White Industries set and the Reynolds Assault carbon clinchers, of course with Vittoria open tubulars and latex tubes.

The frame came in at 1012g, a little more than advertised but they probably don't include things like the derailleur hanger and paint. The fork, with uncut steer tube is 372g, and the 31.6mm Attempt carbon seatpost is an impressive 194g. The completed build should be under 7kg, so not European super-bike category but still very light.

Since photography is the other method of lightening my wallet, of course, here is a series of photos.

thescrawnycyclist gets a BG Fit

2010-12-06T23:25:00.008-05:00

A week ago, I attended a fitting session with Kurt at Liberty! Bicycles to be fit for my road bike. Kurt is certified in the BG Fit system, which is very intensive and focuses not only on body structure, but also flexibility, strength, and factors in any previous injuries and skeletal alignment. And no, you don't have to be a Specialized fanboy for this to work.

I went in there because of concerns that I tend to ride towards the nose of the saddle, which is not comfortable and indicates some sort of fit issue, and I have high arches so I figured I'd need correcting insoles and cleat adjustment. I also wanted to improve efficiency on the bike, and thought I was flexible enough that I could have a lower position.

We started out with a brief interview to see what I wanted to get out of the fitting, and any problems or previous injuries that could affect the outcome. Perhaps the most concerning injuries were that I had left shoulder subluxations (partial dislocations) like 3 separate times a number of years ago, and when I bruised/cracked ribs during an encounter with a sidewalk a couple years back. The shoulder subluxations are evident when swinging my arms up to the ceiling, my left arm will move outward slightly rather than straight up. I don't have a need to perform this maneuver very often, and to be honest, my shoulder was sore for two days afterwards.

Apparently my body structure is quite proportional, one leg is slightly longer than the other but that's nothing unusual. I thought I was flexible, but it seems like I just tend to stretch when I don't have to. Something I will have to work on (yoga, anyone?).

I knew that I naturally pedal 'heels-in', so I had previously set my cleats to accommodate that, and I guess the angle I did so was quite good, but the cleat placement is too far forward and my shoes/cleats do not allow for any further adjustment. The insoles in my Sidi's are no good for my high arches (I also knew this). So, I have to give up the Italian style and will likely end up with new Specialized shoes with the appropriate insoles (which they didn't have either in stock at the time).

Now on to the bike fitting. It turns out my ass bones aren't as narrow as I thought and I had to get a new Specialized Toupe saddle. It was expensive but light weight is important :) As I said, I tended to ride too far up on the saddle. I thought it was because the saddle was too far back. This assumption was way wrong, with my knee in the proper position in relation to the pedal spindle, my saddle actually had to be moved much farther back, and now the seat post is not appropriate for the amount of setback I need. With the saddle being farther back, the reach was too long and the stem length had to be reduced by 30mm (100mm down to 70mm), and the handlebar was raised slightly. The good thing is, my handlebar, though only 38cm at the tops, flaring out to 40cm in the drops, is pretty much perfect for me. At least I don't have to replace that.

I recently went for a ~2hr solo ride to evaluate the fit. The saddle and the setback was the most noticeable improvement. Even with the poor chamois in my winter tights, the saddle was quite comfortable. Previously, my nether regions would have been sore after 5km. I've been compensating with thickly-padded shorts (ie. Sugoi RS & Assos Mille) but it still wasn't that comfortable. The further setback position put a lot (and I mean a LOT) less stress on my calves, so I feel I was able to put down power more efficiently, for a longer period of time. The reach also feels good, I would say similar to before. We did move my position up on the handlebars slightly, and I'm not too sure about it; it feels like I can be lower, yet still be comfortable (maybe moreso with some flexibility exercise). The shoes definitely need to be changed, my right foot was aching as usual, and I would like to see the difference a proper cleat position would make.

The BG Fit session with Kurt was not cheap, however, I see it as an investment. An investment in myself. I gathered a lot of information from the session, and I'm much more knowledgeable on how to set up a bike to work for me. A proper fit will help prevent injuries popping up as I get older, and improve efficiency, and perhaps endurance. I'd highly suggest that everyone who plans to spend a lot of time on their two wheeled, human-powered machine, competitively or not, to go for a fitting session. You may be surprised what is discovered, and it will make perfect sense.

The good thing, since discovering that my bike is on the large side for me, is that I now have a good excuse to buy a new frameset. And after much research into geometries and plotting measurements out on CAD, I've come up with a solution that has a reasonable price tag and a good reputation. I found it at a cyclocross race. Stay tuned.

Race report: Riverdale Park CX

2010-11-28T22:32:00.005-05:00

This one goes to eleven. (11 cross races this season, that is...)

For my final race of the year I raced at Riverdale Park in Toronto. The course was much different than last year; it was a bit shorter in length this year but had a lot of challenging elements. There was a long jaunt down the running track, a couple short, steep climbs, and one long grind of a climb straight up the side of the Don Valley. The rest of the course had lots of switchbacks and off-camber terrain, and two fast barrier sections.

During warm-up (and I mean that literally...it was cold) most of the ground, and the running track was semi-frozen and dry. Then the sun came out for a few minutes, and while it felt nice, the ground warmed up a bit and things got wet quickly. In particular, the running track became especially sloppy, and the surface was crushed red brick, or some sort of clay so you can imagine what everyone looked like in short order.

The Beginner men's field was a good size and the starting corral was wide enough that almost everyone got front row. With all the practice I've had on getting quick starts, I have to say I completely stuffed up the start and missed my pedal like 3 times. ARGH. Jeff K got the holeshot but once I got going I quickly moved up several positions and found myself within the lead group of 6 or so. We caught up to the dregs of the M3 field on the first climb, I was able to ride it here but on the big climb there was a sudden critical mass of M3's that all decided to stop in the middle of the hill at the same time. With nowhere to go I was off the bike and frustratingly lost the leaders.
I had a good back-and-forth battle with Chris E. and a couple others along the way, and for a short time I may have been in 2nd or 3rd. A couple of guys got away so I just tried to stick with Chris in hopes that it would come down to a sprint. On the last lap Chris put in a huge dig that I just couldn't respond to. It didn't look like I was in danger of losing another position so I just cruised in to the finish, dirty, wet, and a bit cold.

As far as results go, I did 5 laps in the 7'50"-8'00" range and finished in 6th out of 15, 2'46" down from the lead.

This was a good race and I finished my season on a high note. I'm happy that I finished every race this season, with good results and no injuries or mechanical issues. I had fun, learned a lot, and I'm already excited for the next season of cyclocross racing.

Double club ride weekend

2010-11-21T13:21:00.005-05:00

Rather than racing 'cross this weekend I felt like putting down a few miles before switching focus to downhill skiing. I haven't touched the road bike in exactly 2 months but I did both the Saturday and Sunday club rides. I'm so out of shape it feels like the beginning of the season again. It was very chilly and windy both days. Russ - I have stopped shivering now, but my toes and thumbs are still slightly numb.

Race report: Kissing Bridge CX

2010-11-13T20:41:00.014-05:00

For the tenth cyclocross race on this years agenda I once again headed cross-border to John Roden's race at Kissing Bridge ski resort. It was super warm and sunny, so I wore my summer gear, and being used to cooler temperatures now it still felt way too hot. The course was similar to last year's, starting down a long gravel road, then turning up the ski hill to a level section partway up the mountain. The climb was not straight up like last year but still challenging. On the upper section there was a thick mud section, then a twisty off-camber downhill to the lower techy parts.

After a delay due to snow, I lined up 2nd row and had a decent start, I think I even had a jump on Jeff. For the first couple of laps I tried to keep Jeff in my sights, and I may have even started to gain some time on him. I think he was having a bad day though and had to go throw up on the side of the hill or something, but I just kept going.
I had a little battle with one other guy, he was bigger so was great to catch a draft on the gravel road. I might have been able to take him on the hill but I decided not to kill myself on the climb. However, I found a little trick on the mud, everyone was going on the outside to avoid getting dirty; I found it was much faster just to power through the thick of the muck so I stressed my competition every time here.
I got freaked out when Nathan passed me on the third lap, I was thinking I must be really slow if he's lapping me already, but I guess he had two flats and was just playing catch-up. Anyways the two leaders didn't lap me until one to go. I got a bell after the leaders finished so I might have unnecessarily done another lap, but maybe I was feeling so good that I just didn't want to stop...probably could have even done another lap, if the official didn't tell me to stop, like I was Forrest Gump or something :)
I think I had a good race, and didn't crash, and had fun.

Results came in: 12th/34 starters. Pretty good, in the top 50% at least. No mention if they counted me as finishing on the lead lap or 1 lap down.

Thanks Dan for driving, and Shawn for coming along to cheer, and all the others that cheered me on as well.

My race results schedule over there ---> is awesome. So much cyclocross.

Race Report: Delaware Park, Buffalo

2010-11-07T23:24:00.007-05:00

Raced at Delaware Park in Buffalo today in the Men's Open category, so I was up against guys like Chown and Roden, and some really slow guys as well. Thus, I was vying for mid-pack, and being lapped by as few of the fast guys as possible.

I really enjoyed the course, there was lots of challenging off-camber and roots, a couple punchy climbs and a few power sections. The conditions were slick, which made things interesting to keep both wheels on the ground. The three uphill barriers were way too high for my short legs, so I had to kind of hop over them to maintain speed, and well after several laps my legs couldn't take the hopping any more. The one slick climb was challenging, but I rode it every time except the first lap when I ran into the back of some guy's wheel who was too slow.

I feel like this race went way better than last weekend, it was more of a skill course than a power course and I felt confident in my abilities, and I think kept a very good pace for the whole 60 mins. I started out fast and probably passed more guys than those who overtook me. I slowed down a bit a few laps in but I eventually caught and had a good battle with a Campus Wheelworks guy and another rider, but when I got bored of shadowing them I attacked and left them in my wake. The faster Master riders and the riders that lapped me really helped out, I followed their lines as long as I could and probably cut a lot off my lap times. Perhaps the highlight of my race was when Nathan lapped me at the muddy section, but I passed him back for a couple seconds because I was faster through the thick mud :)

~~Even though I don't know the results yet I am happy with my performance at this race.~~

Results just came in: I was lapped with 1 to go but came in 13th out of 46 that started. That's better than I expected and a pretty awesome result for me. Judging that I finished not far behind John Roden after he lapped me I think I did 6 laps at about an average of 11 minutes each. The race ran a lot longer than an hour but on a course like that it was still fun. And yes, if you couldn't tell, I am very happy with my performance. Maybe I'm better on technical courses than power courses.

And of course, serious racing faces, complete with snot:

2010 Canadian Cyclocross Championships - pictures

2010-11-06T20:32:00.003-04:00

Pictures I took of the 2010 Canadian Cyclocross Championships at Cedarvale Park in Toronto - Nov 06 2010. As usual mostly a bias towards riders I know but there are some others.

Great rides by everyone and it was fun to watch and cheer extra loud for my favourite riders. Mega awesome props to Ben 'Jammin' Perry, the Junior CX Champ!!!

Link: http://s681.ph...show

Samples:

Race report: Parma CX (NY State Champs)

2010-10-31T20:53:00.008-04:00

Headed out to Parma (near Rochester) with Jeff today to race the NY State CX Champs. It was definitely cold, and windy, and watching the races after ours there was a little bit of snow action. I signed up for the Cat 3/4 race, so I'd be up against a wide spectrum of competition, probably a similar range to the UCI race, but with nearly 40 others to compete against. I might have had a better chance in the Cat 4 race, but racing for 30 minutes wasn't worth the training value per dollar for me.

I can't say I particularly enjoyed the course, it was short (we did 8 laps in 45 minutes), I didn't like the long pea-gravel singletrack section, nor the two muddy run-around a tree sections. There also wasn't much elevation change and I think the long pavement stretch could have been broken up. It was more like a dirt crit than a cyclocross course. I did, however, enjoy the nice stair run-up cut out of a dirt mound, but the barriers were pretty much right after this, so you were off the bike, back on to go down the mound, then 5 seconds later back off to run the barriers...unless you were full of awesome and just bunny-hopped them every lap, props to 'Captain Lightning' Jay, Andrew, and Justin for being the only racers to do this.

As far as my race goes, I think I got a decent start and got myself in the top 10 or so. It became obvious within the first lap that I was working myself way too hard though and I started to fall back. On the 2nd and 3rd laps I thought I was going to die (I'm definitely out of shape) but after that I settled into a pace I could maintain. I got into a train with 3 others, which was great in the headwind. One guy, for whatever reason, at every obstacle that required running, he would start running like 50 feet before it, and every time onto the pavement he would go into a full sprint and drop me. I could negotiate the corners better so I closed the gap back up every time. One of the guys in our train had a mechanical, the other ran out of gas and dropped back, so it was just me and the running guy. I just stayed behind and let him do the work in the headwind as I knew he was stronger and could just drop me anyways. Obviously he got rid of me on the final stretch but I finished the race on the lead lap at least.

I came in for 20th out of 38 that finished, 5'08" down from the leader, so yeah...mid-pack. It doesn't feel like I raced very well, and that I'm starting to wind down. It is hard to gauge though as I didn't know anybody I was up against.

We stuck around afterwards to watch the other races. It was freezing and it started to snow, but watching friends race is worth it. Jay raced the 35+ race, and then shortly after the singlespeeds (which he won, and definitely put on the best show). Andrew and Justin raced the Cat 1/2/3 race and did very awesome, both finishing in the top 10. And of course congrats to Jeff for 3rd in the Cat 3/4 race and 2nd in the series!

A few pics that make it look like I actually know what I'm doing. Complete with serious racing faces.

Race reports: Kelso CX weekend

2010-10-24T20:56:00.002-04:00

Double report for today, raced at Kelso for both the Provincials (in the Sportif category) and the following Citizen race.

Day 1: Provincial CX race
Being one of the 'slow' guys I raced in the Sportif category, which I guess is just more or less for 'fun' or training. The weather was pretty much perfect, maybe a bit warm, but dry nonetheless. When I got there the registration had just opened, and I had to pick up specific numbers and a timing chip for this race only. By the time I had stood in line for a while and got my numbers pinned on I barely had time to get a lap in for warmup and down a bottle of water before the start.

The course was difficult, fitting to a provincial championships I suppose. The start was down a long, false-flat gravel road which led into a fast barrier section and a series of corners. After crossing the finish line was a long sandy beach area followed by a couple of short climbs, then a steep run-up. After the run-up is where the fun started. Several long, grinding climbs on thick grass to make the legs burn, and not much chance for recovery as the following downhills were fast. Even coming back on to the gravel road was not much fun as there was a little climb going into it.

I got called up into the last row for some reason, and got stuck behind a guy on a singlespeed mountain bike. My start definitely suffered because of this but I did pick my way around quite a few guys before the first time over the barriers. I admit to having an ambitious gearing choice for a guy my size (38t up front with 12-25 cassette) so I really suffered on the long climbs and started to fall back in position because of it. Riding the beach was very fun, and yes I did ride the sand completely for three out of four laps. During the 2nd lap I caught up to Chris E. and stuck to his wheel for a bit. He took a spill on a sketchy corner but didn't want to let me get away so easy and started to catch back up. I kept looking for him to be right on my wheel because I needed some motivation but somewhere along the line he just disappeared, unfortunately rolled a tubular off the rim.

Maybe the course was very gruelling, or maybe I was just off but whatever it was but the whole time my pace felt very slow and I'm not very satisfied with my performance. My laps were ~11.5 minutes which is long for a cross race.

Not surprisingly, Steve 'I don't have a racing license' DeBoer won the race by a 1'30" gap. He bragged that he didn't even go full out for the last lap. Sandbagger. I crossed the line 4'32" later for a mid-pack 9th place finish.

The beach and the run-up
(Brandon Etzl amazingly rode this run-up)

Day 2: Kelso Citizen's race

The conditions for this race were much worse. It rained all Saturday evening and Sunday morning, so what was known to be a muddy course would be like soup. The good thing is, though, that it did stop raining and it was unusually warm, which did make for some interesting foggy weather. This time, we used the regular issued numbers so I had lots of time to prepare and pre-ride the course.

This course started off in a low-lying grassy field and immediately went up a long, steep road climb. A standard course layout in a grass field followed with a couple muddy spots and tricky corners but nothing unmanageable. After completing this section a shallow road climb followed. Weirdly, at the highest elevations in the race, this is where things got really wet. There was a nice fast section that ended right in a squishy grass and mud puddle. After this was a crazy descent through long grass, and then slippery mud leading into a lung-busting road climb, and back down a fast road descent into the first top grass field. There was a tricky off-camber corner that had to be taken at exactly the right line, and then the super-fun twisty downhill through long grass and a crazy fast downhill with a scary dip at the end. After the finish line there was a fast barriers section, and then back up the road climb for more hurt.

I felt good and managed to ride a clean (technically, not physically) race with no falls, mechanicals, or rolled tubulars despite having not raced in muddy conditions before.
There were no call-ups so I placed myself front row and, in my opinion, had a great start, being 3rd or 4th wheel on the road climb. Going into the first sections of course my mediocre technical skills meant that I got passed by quite a few racers, but I did manage to hang on to a few wheels. The next steep road climb took it out of me and I lost a lot of ground, but I kept pushing.
I started to get into the swing of things after the 2nd lap and at the beginning of the 3rd lap I caught up to a couple of masters and followed them for a little bit, but they weren't fast enough for my liking so I attacked and dropped them. This little boost in speed helped me catch up to a competitor in my race. I told myself I had to stay with this guy no matter what. He was more powerful and was great to pace up the tough climbs, but, oddly enough, I was more confident in the corners. He tried everything to shake me but I just stuck on him like glue.
When we caught up to another competitor on the last lap, I decided to get rid of him and attacked to jump on the new wheel for the same routine. This guy was pretty fast in all aspects so I did what I could to stay on. I managed to hang on through the scary twisty downhill and right to the finishing stretch. I didn't quite have the sprint he did so I finished just behind.

Guess what, I finished mid-pack yet again! 9th out of 18, 3'28" down from the leader. I was doing about 10.5 minute laps, quite a bit more respectable than Saturday's race.
Comparatively, my first two laps were pretty slow, but the last two, my lap times were 6th and 5th fastest. If I could just get myself to hang on to the faster guys for the first half of the race I could probably do much better at this. Despite still being mid-pack though, I'm much happier with today's performance compared to yesterday's. And I actually did enjoy racing in the wet conditions, even if the clean-up was a bit time consuming.

My cool-down routine involved running up and down one of the road climbs, encouraging Justin, Andrew, Jeff and Guy. That was a lot of fun, and I think it was worth it for those guys.

Andrew post-race and the crazy hill

A few more pictures from both events are found here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v37/rmwatt/cyclocross/kelsocx/ I tried using an interesting 'retro camera' app on my phone. Kind of a neat effect.

Race report: Firemen's Park CX

2010-10-18T21:59:00.004-04:00

Rather than racing Day 2 of the Toronto UCI race, I decided to participate in a bang-for-the-buck, local grassroots race in Niagara Falls organized by Steve DeBoer of Zoom Leisure. Steve and volunteers from the Shorthills Cycling Club put together an amazing course with some euro flair with open grassy sections, some singletrack, lots of climbing and quite possibly the most ridiculously huge spiral ever. There was nothing on the line for this race other than having fun and putting on a good show for the spectators.

Off the start I sprinted my way into fourth position. I knew who was going to fill the podium spots so I set my targets on a 4th or 5th finish. Going into the first bit of singletrack with a short steep pitch, Dan 'no skills' Dakin somehow manages to get hung up, causing me to crash into his wheel and general chaos ensues while the two leaders get away. Having a bit more power than I do, Dan is able to sprint back onto the lead train into the spiral of doom with Rob V. chasing. Looking back it doesn't appear that I am in any danger of losing another position so I put myself into cruise mode trying not to blow up or crash.

A few laps in I noticed Rob V. slowing down a bit and having some trouble negotiating the terrain so I turned chase mode back on and eventually caught and passed him. Seems he just needed some motivation and a wheel to follow because I couldn't shake him. Since I was now turning myself inside out trying to keep a high pace I started to make stupid mistakes and coming in the second-last lap I started to feel the effects of racing more than 40 minutes on a challenging course. Rob, having greater endurance and power, eventually got by and I couldn't keep pace any longer. On the last lap I was completely done and couldn't even ride my bike up the long singletrack climb. I drove myself to the breaking point...job well done.

Analysis by numbers:

In the first 40 minutes my lap times were very consistent as usual, around 10 minutes for a 3km course. Lap 4 was my fastest as this was the lap I lead Rob V. around. The last two laps (after 40 minutes) it becomes obvious that I was hurting and my lap times show this.

I came in 5th overall out of 15 racers (or out of 13 men), doing 6 laps with a time of 1h01'44". I was 5'39" behind Jamie S. who won the race and is an accomplished M2 level racer. Rob V. opened a 23 second gap on me within the last two laps.

Thanks to the organizers and volunteers for an incredibly fun, high value race. The atmosphere, food, and prizes were all fantastic and the course was very challenging. Hope that this venue garners more attention in the future as it is a great race that should be on everyone's calendar!

Race report: Toronto UCI CX (Saturday)

2010-10-16T21:51:00.003-04:00

The course presented for the Saturday UCI race in Toronto was a tough one. It had pretty much everything: a challenging run-up, a few tough climbs, off-camber terrain, a sand pit, a fast back stretch and a long grind directly into the wind. Lots of fun stuff to keep a racer in the pain cave.

I was called up as the last spot in the front row so I had lots of pressure to not stuff up the start. I actually clipped in properly but I'm definitely not the fastest starter out there so after making my way around a few inevitable crashes I fell into position fairly quickly. Jeff of course got the holeshot.
Very shortly into the first lap our field had to work around the stragglers in the M3 field, which is challenging since a lot of them are sketch and don't know how to handle a bike.
I actually did not have any challengers for the whole race except for picking off M3's at random intervals. Because of this, I wasn't pressured into taking some risky maneuvers and could concentrate on riding a clean race. Sometimes I think I ride a bit cautiously, but in my opinion, riding cleanly is more efficient than wasting time crashing every lap.
Of course, I couldn't just sit back and relax, my rival from the HCC (Brett L.) was not too far behind and I think he was trying to catch me. He messed up on the same corner twice though (see what I mean about riding cleanly) so I didn't have any trouble keeping him at bay.
Going into the last lap I caught up to a couple of M3's working together. I saw an opportunity to get by and one of them (in a Canadian Cycling Mag. jersey) tried to shadow me for a while. Coming into the sand pit, he rode in to a wide line but I got off my bike and ran around the corner tight to the inside and through the sand pit. All I heard from the guy was 'you bastard!' I just laughed and ran away (he may have thought I was Dan Dakin).
On the last lap I was hurting but actually had lots of energy, so despite having nothing to chase I put the hammer down. The last lap was actually my fastest even though I just spun easy into the finish.

The rules for UCI races are different, with a S3 license you can still race in Beginner, so with a few guys in the field that usually race elite (and some that should be in elite) I think I pulled off a very good result. Out of 16 I came in 10th, 4'17" behind the leader, and just over two minutes behind Jeff. I'm also very happy that my lap times were ridiculously consistent, all within 20 seconds (laps 2 and 3 were actually the same) so at least I know I can keep a steady effort for at least 40 minutes. I had a great time today...the course was well laid-out, challenging yet very fun.

Race report - ZM Turkey Cross

2010-10-10T15:35:00.005-04:00

Well that was a hard race.

I shared a ride with Stephen C. up to Toronto to race the ZM Cycle Turkey Cross at Sir Winston Churchill Park. When we got there and had an initial inspection of the course we thought 'oh this is flat, it should be pretty easy'. But no. We took a ride around and all the sudden there was a HUGE dropoff in the middle of the course. In the words of Ollie Williams: "Everybody looks like ants!" And there was not one, but two runups on this monster of a hill. Oh, and just to keep everything in the pain cave, there was also a long, rideable climb. There was also a ridiculous off-camber section that required zen-like bike control just to keep the left pedal from striking the ground. I can't imagine how insane this would have been had the grass been wet.

As far as my race, I started somewhere mid-pack but took the widest lines off the start as I predicted there would be a pile-up on the second corner and in a few other locations. Sure enough, 5 or so riders go down but I just casually ride by. People were falling over left and right on all the off-camber sections and 180 degree corners so much that it was hilarious, and I just rode by like nothing happened. I'm not a power rider so I tend to concentrate more on riding smoothly, and in some situations it paid off greatly.

I got into a good battle with a guy on a mountain bike and another rider for a few laps. Apparently I can't run up hills very fast so they got away on the run-ups but I was able to reel them back in on the flat upper section. Mountain bike guy was very fast but when he hesitated to get a drink, I attacked and was able to hold him off for a lap or so. He caught up to me on the last lap though and it came down to a sprint for the finish. I apologize to cyclocross racers everywhere, but I didn't have enough left in my legs and lost the sprint.

After the finish I rode off course and the combination of a build-up of phlegm in my throat and gasping for air made me gag and almost puke. Cyclocross...ride hard, crash, get dirty, puke.

I have two HCC riders marked as my rivals, I beat one of them but not the other. I came in 15th out of 24, 3m37s down from the lead...not very impressive but it looks like only one of the guys that beat me (the HCC rider) was also at J the C so I guess the 'big guns' (aka sandbaggers) in the beginner category only show up for the S. Ont. Cup series. At least I don't have to worry about upgrading :)

Updates

2010-10-09T21:10:00.004-04:00

Why have I not posted in a while?

Well, not much exciting has been going on. I skipped racing last weekend because it was raining and miserable (although apparently it was dry in Toronto) and since I was coming down with a cold, I didn't want to take the risk of making it worse, or getting bronchitis. On Tuesday and Wednesday my nose was running non-stop and my sinuses were all congested. By Thursday I felt a bit better (still had some snot issues) and did the cyclocross practice session. In the past month, I've been riding pretty much exclusively cyclocross (either racing or practices), so I definitely don't have the fitness I had in mid-late summer, but I feel I can still put the hammer down when I need to.

I am racing tomorrow at ZM Cycle's Turkey cross in Toronto so check back for a race report. The conditions look fantastic and I'm looking forward to it. I'm not expecting to pull off a repeat performance as Jump the Cheeseburger but a top 5 would be nice.

Bike updates -
I converted my Stevens cross bike to a 38t single ring setup using a BBG chain guard and a N-Gear Jump Stop. Even on a fast course I was not using the 44t big ring, so single ring cuts down a bit of weight and hopefully makes it more reliable (ie. no dropping the chain). Maybe I can polish up and use the front derailleur on my road bike so the shifting is all Dura-Ace 7800 (the front der. on it right now is 7700).
With the new UCI rules regarding tire width, I made the decision to pull off my 34mm FMB SSC tubulars and replace them with 32mm Vittoria Cross Evo XG's (the new 320tpi version). It's disheartening to take off expensive hand-made tubulars, but I do not want the risk of being pulled from the start line at the UCI or Provincial races because my tires are too wide.
While those are being glued up by Jeff, I'm using my clinchers with mis-matched wheels.

That's all the updates for now, I'm going to get my stuff ready for tomorrow's race!

The Squeezer race report

2010-09-26T19:46:00.005-04:00

For the fourth year in a row, I entered myself in the ultimate mountain bike party called the Squeezer. Course conditions were unusually dry, which meant for a very fast pace. The temperature was a bit cool, so apparel choices did require some thought, but at least there was no wind, and it was sunny.

I didn't go into the race with any specific goal in mind, other than I didn't want to get dropped from the lead group on the starting stretch, and I wanted to put in maximum effort.

The start on the gravel path seemed slow, apparently it wasn't just my imagination, there were a couple guys out front that were holding the group back a bit and nobody wanted to make a move. I made my way near the front and thought about attacking, but A) I wouldn't have got very far and B) it would have used a lot of energy. The great thing about being near the front in the singletrack is that there are no bottlenecks. A couple times, some guy could not make it up a climb and I got caught up in the mess once, so I had to run up a hill and lost a bunch of positions. I hammered the first road climb and got in a 3-man echelon for the trek through the grape field and road portion. The second road climb was a bit slower but I had no problems there. New portions of single track on the two-bridges trail kind of caught me off guard, I actually missed a turn and rode underneath caution tape before figuring out what happened. The final stretches of singletrack went quite well as I had a good wheel to follow. For the first time, I didn't look like a fool going up the final climb to the finish and was able to easily outrun the Devil.

Results:

1h27'49"
57th overall
18/80 Men 20-29
18th "not elite" to cross the finish line.

So not quite top 50 yet but I put in a huge effort and as a result I am still moving up in position at least. Now to get back into cyclocross mode.

My determined climbing face - photo by Marty Pilato

Up the final climb - photo by Tom McD

At the finish...probably delusional and thought I won the race or something.

Race Report: Sprague Brook CX

2010-09-20T12:45:00.001-04:00

The day started with a bunch of us from Niagara loading up into Dan's and Shawn's vans for a trip over the river to Sprague Brook near Kissing Bridge. We arrived way early, unloaded the vans and did a course inspection, then headed into town for a breakfast at a little corner store. A western omellete wrap may have not been the best pre-race meal but that's a different story.

I entered the 'open' men's category since there was no beginner race, so I was racing against the really fast guys (and really slow guys for that matter). The course was tough with lots of hard, square corners, a couple forced run-ups, and more off-camber terrain than you could shake a stick at.

I definitely wasn't going to win anything, but I had a decent start, and kept up with the pack for about a quarter of the first lap before being dropped and left pretty much on my own. I just kept seeing Shawn and Neil on a section going opposite my direction and made my own challenge of keeping them in the same position every lap. A little more than halfway through the race, Nathan and Peter lapped me. This happened on a nice long straight section so I caught on for a good draft for a few hundred meters, which I think helped me catch a couple other riders. Ben lapped me a bit later and gave some encouragement, and I had lots of encouragement from Aly on the sidelines. I had a good battle with one rider for a lap or so, until he had a flat tire and had to pull out.

On the second last lap, I caught another rider and matched his every move, and drafted him to try to stress him into making a mistake or wear out. I wouldn't be surprised if this was my fastest lap. I guess this strategy worked because on the last lap I made my move and successfully dropped him.
Shawn caught me on the last lap so I tried to keep up to the finish line.

In the ”I got lapped by Nathan, Peter and Ben” field I think I was 4th or 5th, overall out of 29 I was 16th. Hooray for mid-pack! Racing for an hour is HARD.

Niagara was represented very well at this race as we had a huge showing (I think 13 or 14?), and several of us came home with medals (not me though). John Roden always puts on a good event.

Race report: Jump the Cheeseburger / Cowbells cyclocross

2010-09-11T16:59:00.008-04:00

I did something in this race that I've never done before. No, it wasn't jumping a cheeseburger, although that would have been cool.

I lined up in the first row, and when the commissaire said 'go' I did a "can't clip in Kerton" which lost me the holeshot. But that ended up not mattering too much as through the course of the first lap I reeled in and passed a bunch of competitors. Kerton did an amazing 180 degree spin out, and managed to stay upright. One guy took a spill around a tree right in front of me, I rode over his rear wheel. By the second lap all the numbers I was passing were in the Masters category. So I started to think "Am I in the lead?? Nah there's got to be someone way out ahead." But I checked the numbers on the guys ahead of me coming back down a returning stretch and they were all Masters.

I was really focusing on riding smoothly rather than quickly on the second and third laps. I guess that worked because there was nobody in sight behind me. Then it happened. I lost traction on a corner and went down, and dropped my chain. Of all the things I could crash on, I rolled over a stupid PINECONE. Curse ye, fruit of prickly trees!!! I got my chain back on and started riding again, amazingly without losing any positions.

Before I crashed, I estimate I had a 45 second, if not a minute lead over 2nd and 3rd wheels. Now these guys had me in their targets and I had a very small lead as they worked together to catch me. Panic mode. Must stay away. Hammer as hard as possible.

On the closing parts of the last lap, the 2nd place rider was getting very close to catching me. On the last corner he was right there. I yelled out 'CRAP!!' and sprinted my arse off on the straight-away for the last couple hundred meters. I guess my competitor did not have much left for a sprint, because I won by just 7 seconds.

Yep, I won a real race. That's the thing that has never happened before in my life. Results here. My goal was top 5. Really shocked me to take the win. I'm a bit worried, as winning gets a lot of upgrade points, and if I win another race, I have the option to upgrade to Elite. Or if I podium in a few races, it's going to be mandatory. I'll get completely destroyed in the big leagues, there's no in-between category like there is in Masters. Maybe this was a fluke and I'll just suck as usual in all the other races :)

My Stevens Super Prestige I bought from Vicki works awesome and is so fast...love this bike. Going to Nathan's practice sessions are really helping me learn vital skills. And training on the road with the SCCC has ramped up my fitness. And thanks to all that cheered me on, including Dan who yelled out 'sandbagger!' in the midst of screaming spectators and clanging cowbells.

Cyclocross bruises

2010-09-03T11:17:00.002-04:00

I already have bruises on my right thigh and hip, and it's not even cyclocross season yet. I've already flatted a tubular, and it's not even cyclocross season yet. But I'm having fun learning how to really ride a bike, and working on my skills. I'm having a bit of trouble getting my bike on my shoulder quickly for run-ups, but I think I'm getting faster at dismounting and mounting the bike. First race is next week...excited!

Another thought - I've only ridden my mountain bike 13 times this season (including the races noted to the right). Maybe 14 times for the year since I'm planning to do the Squeezer. I probably won't be doing the XC O-Cups next year as it's kind of a waste of time and money to consistently finish in the bottom third.

It almost seems pointless to keep my mountain bike around if I'm only going to ride it once a month or so. With the XC O-Cups out of the way I'd be focusing only on road and cyclocross. So, what do you think, should I sell the Hei Hei, or part it out, or keep it around to collect dust and ride once in a while. I'd be taking a bit of a loss on it as the frame is a bit beat up looking but everything else is in great condition (some parts are even nearly new). But maybe I could put the money from selling it towards a more awesome road frame :)

The ride I wanted to puke

2010-08-10T21:50:00.005-04:00

...or Tuesday night with the A-group on the hilly course.

It was WAY TOO HOT and muggy to be doing a race on the hilly course. But I went 'A' group anyways. I hung in with the peleton on the first lap, and even tried a little attack up Roland Rd. in attempt to string the group out. The first time up Saylor's the peleton shattered and two guys went off on a break. I found myself in a chase group of 5, which turned in to 4 soon after the pace was increased. I was trying to rotate through but was on the verge of puking just hanging on. Justin attacked the second time up Roland. I pushed myself and tried to catch him, which put me out by myself for a while until I was caught by the two others. Rob V. took advantage of my crappy descending ability and tried to get rid of me on the following climb but he faded and I caught back up. At this point it was the bottom of Saylor's. I didn't think I had the beans to hold off the other two but I pushed myself beyond threshold to the point where couldn't see straight but ended up with a good gap by the finish.

So that's my foray into the A group on the hilly course. It's a good thing I don't eat a whole lot before a race (usually just a banana and lots of water). I'm going to continue to push myself, it hurts but it just makes me a stronger rider. I'm way better as a roadie than I am a mountain biker, but I hope this increase in difficulty by moving up from 'B' to 'A' helps out for cyclocross season.

O-Cup - Kelso report

2010-08-08T20:17:00.002-04:00

I didn't pre-ride the course so I had absolutely no clue what to expect going in to this race. My first look at the nasty starting climb was on my first lap around the course. It was really steep and loose, and riders were walking up it right after the start. I mean, seriously? Come on...I know it's a tough climb but that's what granny gear is for. I got in to a pile-up after running some guy over and lost a few positions before even hitting the single track.

I was pretty much by myself until the fast juniors caught up. Much of the course was double-track and fast, flowy singletrack. Until the rock gardens. Nooooo....rocks! On a few occasions (okay, more than a few) I took the wrong line and had to put a foot down, almost did an endo, but never actually crashed. There was one section of single track that I had some trouble with, there were lots of tight corners with rocks and/or roots in the middle of the corner, reminded me of the Hood trails in Port Colborne.

The second lap went well. I had a good wheel to show me good lines through the singletrack (thanks KHS guy!). We played leapfrog for a bit - I was able to use my roadie skills to gap him on the doubletrack but he just caught back up on the singletrack, but I made a few rookie mistakes and lost him halfway through the third lap. A junior and a woman racer passed me on the singletrack near the end, but I saw them in the chute to the finish and roadie-sprinted my way past them...lol.

I ended up in 20th out of 27 starters, so yay! 2 more O-Cup points! Now I'm 27th in the O-Cup standings hahah. My finish time was 1h30'08". The leader finished 15'24" ahead of me, and my average speed of 18.6kph indicates that this was a very fast course proving that my ability to ride quickly on the open sections slightly made up for my lack of tech skillz. And for once this year, Jeff K. did not catch me.

I suck so much at mountain biking. But it's kind of fun.

Next time on the MTB may be the Ontario Championships if I decide to go, then cyclocross season starts!!!!

Vacation wrap-up and picshurs

2010-07-30T22:32:00.006-04:00

Finishing up on my vacation report. Which isn't over yet...still have the weekend to enjoy not going to work!

On Sunday I came across a bike race. Click here for the pictures I took there.

Samples:

After the race, and hanging out at Sauble Beach, I headed out for a bit of a road trip. I went back through Owen Sound and after the sun set I started driving out towards Collingwood. I camped out in the Collingwood Walmart parking lot along with several RV's and truckers doing the same...there was even someone watching TV 'camping' in their massive RV.

After dawn, I continued driving, and stopped for a break at Wasaga Beach. I can imagine how packed it was on the weekend, but on a Monday morning there was next to nobody there.

I then headed up to Parry Sound, with intentions to ride Hwy 518 out towards Orrville and Seguin Falls. Before that though, I hung out in the downtown area for a bit, walked up to the viewing tower, and had lunch. I figured I would drive out to Orrville to check out the road before getting my bike out for a ride. Well, unfortunately most of the road leading into Orrville was torn up for resurfacing. Darn. And after Orrville I did not feel comfortable riding the road due to several blind corners and hills. However, it was definitely the best road I've ever driven. Nothing but corners for about 20km.

When I got to Hwy 11, I decided why stop the good drive there? And I continued on through Algonquin Park...which wasn't really all that exciting.

I then got to a little town called Madawaska...hmm...this looks familiar. I drove down Madawaska Rd. and spotted the turn-in to Lyell Lake, where I spent many summers at my grandparent's old cottage. Ahh...memories.

I became bored with driving randomly (and the cost of gas was starting to get expensive even though I saved immensely on camping fees) so I started to head home. I'm not sure where I was, but all I knew is that I wanted to avoid the 400 highways.

And now I'm home, spending lots of time on my bike. In retrospect I should have stayed in the Sauble Beach area for another day or two. But oh well...it was still a good road trip and I went to lots of places I had never been before.

Click here for road trip pictures

Random samples:

Many climbs make for tired legs

2010-07-30T16:31:00.002-04:00

More than 800m (2600ft) of climbing today to be exact. Who needs mountains when you can just do hill repeats on the Niagara Escarpment? Dan and I attacked the big climbs in Stoney Creek/Grimsby today - New Mountain, Dewitt, McNeilly, Fifty, Woolverton (twice), Mountain, and Park. I'm not sure I've done that much climbing in a day before. Legs were pretty much done on the last climb (Dewitt) but that just means it was a good workout. Think I'm going to skip the club ride tomorrow though, but do some cyclocross training in the evening.

Anyways, pictures from today's adventure.

race report - Bike the Bruce

2010-07-25T21:57:00.002-04:00

'Borrowing' internet right now somewhere in Owen Sound. No pics yet (I don't have a photo editor on this machine and uploading images on 'borrowed' internet would take a long time)

Vacation report so far-
Saturday - leave at about 11am, it's raining. Traffic on Hwy 6 going into Guelph sucks. And it pretty much sucks the whole way up. Stop at Inglis Falls near Owen Sound for some photo ops. Take the scenic route to Wiarton, do two pre-ride laps of the race course and have fish n chips on the beach. Enjoy the sunset over on the beach in Oliphant and head back to my 'campsite' - which was sleeping in the hatch area of my car on some random baseball diamond (which just happened to be on the race course). The car is surprisingly roomy back there even with a bike and a couple bags, and probably just as comfortable as sleeping on the ground in a tent.

Sunday - wake up, have breakfast, and do a easy warm-up lap before getting ready to race.

The race went well, there was some aggression and sketchy times in the S4/M3 field but there were no crashes. The course was not overly difficult, but with 10 laps it did start to hurt towards the end. I ended up 8th in S4 and 19th in the field sprint. I need to learn how to race properly, I tried to get to the middle-front of the pack but somehow I kept filtering all the way to the back. I got a bit aggressive on the last lap though and found myself in a decent position for the uphill sprint, and passed a bunch of non-climber types.

Max from the SCCC had an incredible race, he got in a breakaway with a few other riders and then went on to win the S3 race with a gap of almost 4 minutes to the main peleton.
Andrew did a great job (and finished) his first road race in the S1/2 category.

After that I hung out with Andrew and Justin at Sauble beach, went swimming in the lake. Probably will get e-coli or something from the water but it was a lot of fun and I really needed to go for that swim to get rid of my stinkiness.

And now I'm back in Owen Sound trying to figure out where to go next. Maybe go ride tomorrow in Parry Sound, then make my way over to Algonquin maybe. Dunno. See where my car takes me.

Laters!

First time in the 'A' group

2010-07-21T11:37:00.002-04:00

I got bored of time-trialing off the front of the 'B' group race, so in order to challenge myself on last night's flat course race, I went with the 'A' group.
Wow...it's way faster and more intense than the B's, the cornering is quicker and safer, and the accelerations were very challenging. I sat in the group and enjoyed witnessing all the racing strategies being employed.
For the first few laps I thought the pace was going to be too high for me to hold on, but after a while I was able to settle into the rhythm (and get a great draft off the tallest guys in the bunch). When that happened speeds below 40kph felt too slow. The sprint happened amazingly quickly, all the sudden the group just snapped into an all out sprint. I latched onto Rick's wheel for a good draft and was dragged to the imaginary finish line somewhere around mid-pack.

Now the question is, should I try going 'A' group on the hilly course? With the 'B' group it seems like I'm either on or off for the hills. Sometimes I get dropped horribly, and other times I'm in contention for the win. So I'm a bit conflicted on whether or not to "upgrade".

Fastest time trial

2010-07-15T20:13:00.005-04:00

I must be on a peak this week or something. Just did my personal best time trial, beating my last best time by over 20 seconds. Where the heck did that come from??? Now I can't stop there, I must go for under 26 minutes.
Fabian Cancellara must have slipped his electric motor into my bike.

A Tuesday race report

2010-07-13T21:00:00.002-04:00

With the fresh tar and chip surface on Hollow Rd. now flattened down enough to be rideable, my favourite Tuesday nighter course is back in play. I guess the humidity scared some people away so the turnout was not that great, and none of the juniors/cadets were there so the groups were combined into A/B and B/C categories.

There were still some very strong riders in the A/B group but I still went with them and told myself that all I have to do is hang on for the ride.

The first lap was fairly uneventful, I was just cruising at the back for the most part. A few riders tried to attack but the peleton just pulled them back. We flew up the climb at Roland Rd., and it had to be pretty much the only time I haven't been able to go off the front up the climb. The first time up Saylor's I thought I was going to lose the group, I had to accelerate quickly at the top to get back on for the following descent.

On the second lap there were several surges that I was barely able to hold on to. But by the end on the climb up Effingham I was sitting in a nice position to give it a go up Saylor's. Max had already put a gap on the group at Saylor's, so Brandon, Dan and I chased. Max ran out of gas near the top, Brandon took the win and Dan followed. I was so close to catching Max but he just had a few extra metres on me. Dan didn't sign in so that means I came 3rd. Pretty good, but that won't happen again when the usual 'A' group shows up to hammer it. Maybe I'll try racing 'A' group, I kind of liked how intense tonight was over a usual 'B' race.

The new toy for the autumn

2010-07-04T18:22:00.004-04:00

Well, new to me at least.

You can see where it came from, and yes I'll remove the name tag as this bike will never go as fast as it did when Vicki was racing it.
Specs:
Stevens Super Prestige with Shimano Dura-Ace shifters and derailleurs, Shimano 105 crank w/ FSA chainrings, TRP EuroX brakes, and Ritchey WCS components. The wheels which I already had are White Industries hubs laced to Velocity rims with FMB SSC 34 tubulars.

I brought it home and took it for a test in the local park, it feels quicker and much lighter than my Norco. The fit is great, I didn't even have to change the saddle height. The only thing I will be changing is the handlebars. While I prefer a compact bend, I can live with the ergo bend of these, but they are 42cm wide and I need 40cm bars.

Many thanks to Vicki, it's going to be a great bike for me. And thanks to her father for transporting it to Toronto, saved me a lot of driving time!

The I took a day off work so I went for a ride...ride.

2010-07-02T17:11:00.005-04:00

I took the day off work, so I went for a random mountain bike ride. Being solo was almost meditative...all I heard was the wind in the trees, and random wildlife sounds. No worry about training, racing or keeping up with someone.

Along the way, I saw green trails...

bridges...

a highway...

a creek...

mill ruins...

cedar trees and flowers...

I went slow...

and sometimes, I went fast...

and I really enjoyed being on a human-powered two wheel contraption today.

I booked some time off...

2010-06-25T23:06:00.005-04:00

...but I'm not exactly sure what to do with it.
I booked off the last week of July (26-30) and Aug 2 is a stat holiday. I might be racing Bike the Bruce in Wiarton on Sun. July 25 and Canal Days mountain bike race on Sun. Aug 1. But what should I do during the whole week between those races? I'd prefer to go somewhere rather than stay at home. I would prefer to do it on a budget (ie. no hotels).

I have a fuel-efficient hatchback, a bike, a tent and sleeping bag. I don't have a camping stove or a cooler.

Comment and make some suggestions! I'm not good at this vacation thing.

Something special coming for the fall...

2010-06-22T13:02:00.002-04:00

It's not Geoff Kabush's skin suit, but it still has more history and skill than I ever will. A little clue:

Race report - Lake-to-Lake

2010-06-20T19:23:00.007-04:00

Substituted for a missing rider on a team for the Lake-to-Lake today.
The start was crazy, a couple crashes, and one major high speed crash on the road that unfortunately took out a bunch of top SHCC riders. I started quite strong though and found myself in a pretty good position in the trails.

Through Dain City, the ATV trails were horrible, giant smelly mud puddles everywhere, I was so glad to get out of there. Had a decent echelon thing going for a while with Neil and a couple SHCC riders on the gravel and paved roads, and did some time trial style mountain biking whenever I was by myself. I think there is going to be a pic somewhere displaying my amazing flexibility technique.

After Hwy 20 the trails were MUCH better, and the trails behind Brock and the 8x12 trails were perfect. On the trail heading to the north end it was crazy bumpy and my rear derailleur cable was acting up again doing random shifts, I'm thinking that the i-links are not working so well with full suspension and I might have to slightly de-bling my bike for more functionality. I still managed to pass quite a few riders especially on the paved sections.

Going to the finish another rider joined up with me and we took turns pulling. He did a major endo on the final steep downhill and I couldn't do much to help out as I was pretty much on top of him when it happened and could not stop.

I finished in 58th overall, at 2h11'34" with an average speed of 22.8kph over the 50km distance (if you look at the results, I substituted for Peter Schatz) Our team did some awesome riding and came 2nd, with only a 2 minute difference from 1st! But it was still pretty cool to be standing on the podium.
Last time I did this race in '07 I came in 386th and it took me 2h40m :p

Pics of the scrawny train crushing the hopes and dreams of opponents with killer dirt roadie tactics.

Mountain bike stuff.

2010-06-16T11:18:00.004-04:00

For sale:

SOLD~~1) Race Face Evolve XC crankset, 170mm crank arms, silver in colour. Used but in very good condition. Comes with brand new, never installed X-Type BB. Selling for $80.~~

2) Kona short sleeve jersey made by Verge Sport, men's size small. Blue and grey in colour with sublimated Kona 'pod' logos in the fabric, 3/4 zip, 3 rear pockets. Only worn a few times, it's clean, no stains/dirt or smell. Selling for $30.

Why I am selling the Race Face Evolve crankset:
I bought a Race Face Deus crankset. Because it is shinier. And of course I swapped my blue bolts in.
Also a Race Face Deus seatpost, but I bought that because I don't like the seat post in my cross bike, so the former Evolve seat post will go there.

Random thought of the day, not necessarily mountain bike related: Sandbaggers really irk me.

I'm a wheel hog, but I still have less than Moote.

2010-06-12T21:00:00.005-04:00

I'm blogging about components...again. Because I bought new wheels...again.

The bearings became rough in my Fulcrum Racing 3's. I decided it was not worth it to me to repair them, so I put the money towards new wheels instead. They might be worth it to someone else though (who isn't afraid to mess with a hub), contact me, they're cheap.

I got in contact with Roland at Zen Cyclery and he built me up a pair of White Industries H2/H3 hubs laced to Kinlin XR-200 rims (~385g ea.) with Sapim Laser spokes. The finished weight is 584g F / 770g R = 1354g. Lighter than my aero carbon clinchers. Despite the feathery weight these are far from flimsy, and acceleration is quite snappy. Yes they were expensive, but actually much less than equivalent mass produced wheelsets (ie. Shimano Dura Ace, Easton EA90, Mavic Ksyrium etc.) and the best part is that the spokes are cheap and available at any shop, the rims are inexpensive to replace, and the hubs are pretty simple to service. I should be able to get years of service out of them.

In hindsight it was sacrilegious to order the hubs in black rather than the beautiful polished finish seen on my cross wheels below, but I guess they still look pretty cool.

Yeah this probably won't be my last post about components.

My mom's new cruiser

2010-06-09T20:59:00.002-04:00

Picked up a shiny new bike for my mom from the Liberty! Bicycles fire sale, a super cool Specialized Globe Carmel cruiser. She hasn't had a bike for about 15 years and as you can see, she's already having tons of fun on it!

Canada Cup (O-Cup #3) - Hardwood Hills report

2010-05-30T19:40:00.004-04:00

Totally different climate as opposed to last year. Last year it was cold and it even snowed a bit. This year, dry, hot and crazy dusty.
I came 21st out of 33 in the Sr. Sport category, my time was 1h42'03" (19'54" behind leader). That time is slower than last year for some reason but that is probably attributed to course differences. Even though I got totally pwned by half the Junior and Masters fields, this year I was not overwhelmed by the course. I was feeling really strong, and rode to the best of my abilities. There were a couple times when I slipped and had to put a foot down, but otherwise I did not have to dismount and hike-a-bike on any obstacle. I'll never be a top rider but I think I'm starting to get a hang of this mountain biking thing.

Jeff K - you can really rip it on a mountain bike. When the group you were in was chasing me down, I was trying to stay ahead to not get in your way but the speed was well beyond my confidence level.

Ryan -Kudos for sticking to it and finishing the race despite your injuries. Hope you recover well. I knew you wouldn't let me get by you.

A couple photos of local supastars Jessica Tripp and Andrew DeCal on the ridiculous 'Boneshaker' rock garden.

Niagara Classic 2010 photos

2010-05-26T23:59:00.002-04:00

Niagara Classic 2010 photos by thescrawnycyclist.

10:45am races http://s681.photobucket.com/albums/vv173/SCCCphotos/Niagara%20Classic%202010/1045%20am%20races/?start=all

Elite 1/2 & M1 http://s681.photobucket.com/albums/vv173/SCCCphotos/Niagara%20Classic%202010/130%20pm%20races/?start=all

Apologies I was not able to get everyone, I was participating in the 8:30 race and only caught the last part of the 10:45 races. I've only uploaded small, unprocessed images to save bandwidth. These are free to use for facebook, blogs, whatever.

If you want a high quality digital image for printing or other personal uses, email me at robmwatt@yahoo.com quoting the image file number and I will process and send you the file. There will be a small fee for this service, all proceeds will be donated to the St. Catharines Cycling Club Junior Racing Team.

Niagara Classic report

2010-05-23T18:02:00.003-04:00

Well my first road race of the year and first foray at the Niagara Classic did not go so well. I don't know what it was but I just did not have the legs today. The S4/M3 group was so huge (almost 140 riders) that they made the decision to split it up, so the S4 race was only about 45 riders deep, and made for far less sketchiness.
I hung on to the group for the first four laps but on the last lap I was just cooked and came in for the dropped group finish at 6m33s behind the lead group. Out of 46 that started I was 36th. I'm disappointed at that but I guess at least I finished.

A picture of me dragging myself up the hill:

Tuesday evening race report

2010-05-18T20:34:00.006-04:00

The Tuesday evening club race was held on the Niagara Classic course (upcoming this weekend). The 'B' group was to do 3 full laps, plus one shortcut lap (so 4 times up Saylor's hill).

Of course I'm going to have to gloat here, because for the first time ever, I WON!! (the B group race). Now before you call me a dirty wheel sucker because I did no work (I'm not going to deny it though), I'm a terrible descender and I was off the back on each descent down Tice and Kilman, and occasionally struggling to hang on on the flat sections.
And no, don't suggest that I join the 'A' group because my performance on the flats sucks and all of those guys can climb way faster than I can anyways.

The first three laps were the usual. I fall off the back down Tice. Play catch up on Maple. Hammer as much as I could to stay on the surges on Kilman. Drop to the back again on the downhill. Mingle within the pack on Effingham and work my way up to the top riders up Saylor's. Rinse and repeat.

On the last lap, at the bottom of Saylor's I was sitting comfortably at the back of the pack. Everyone started to struggle a bit so I decided to give it a go and see how long I could go at max effort before blowing up. Another guy had a decent lead on me but was struggling with some mechanical issues, but he saw me coming and slammed it in the big ring and put down some incredible power. Unfortunately (or lucky for me), he broke something and his rear wheel locked up. At that point I looked back and saw that I had a pretty decent gap on everyone else. I felt totally out of place being in the lead but I dropped the hammer and did my victory salute. I was really shocked that nobody tried to catch me. I'll take this pseudo-victory though.

Epic MTB day

2010-05-15T20:10:00.003-04:00

Went up to Hardwood Hills today with Shawn, Jeff M. and John (who I don't really know) to pre-ride the course for the upcoming O-Cup race.
It was chilly and grey when we got there, and the trails were a bit moist and slick. The sun came out later though and to warm and dry everything up. We rode the race course 3 times or so, then Jeff went off for another lap while Shawn, John and I went to explore another trail, which seemed to go on forever. Near the end I was pretty much cooked and didn't have much legs left for going up hills. Jeff crashed a few times and hit the same knee each time, along with scraping up other areas. You're going to be sore and bruised tomorrow.
This was a great experience for me though, as Hardwood terrain is quite technical. I definitely could not keep up with the other guys but by the third lap of the course I was feeling much more confident in my bike handling skills. There are a couple features that I'm still not confident enough to ride though.

It was a bike demo day there as well, I felt like trying out a longer travel 'trail' bike, so the Trek rep let me play around on a Fuel EX8 with 5" of travel (compared to 3" on my bike). It was a fun bike, surprisingly light, and the suspension is very plush - it ate up roots and rocks like nothing and felt like it wanted to jump everything. Getting back on my Kona it felt really low-slung and hard, and it prefers to have both wheels on the ground. However the Trek was too upright to be a race bike and isn't suited to my style of riding. It was a fun bike to play around on though.

No pics because the terrain was tricky and I didn't want to lose/crush my camera.

First time trial of the year

2010-05-06T20:24:00.004-04:00

Crazy windy out there, spent a lot of energy making my way to the time trial. Traveling in the east direction (fortunately one of the long stretches) I was keeping a high pace no problem. Turning around directly into the headwind was a bit of a party pooper though. On the 14.1km course my time was 23:56, pretty much the same as last year...blah.

Race Report: XC O-Cup #1 Mansfield

2010-04-25T17:55:00.005-04:00

At the risk of sounding like a cliche 90s surfer, there are only three words to describe this event: 'gnarly, gnarly, gnarly'.

With the weather report, I was actually unsure if I was going to race or not (I hate rain), but a quick check in the morning showed that Mansfield had gotten little to no precipitation. So I headed out in the pouring rain, which lasted until just past Brampton, then by some miracle, it cleared up. At Mansfield it was still cloudy and windy, but it looked like there wasn't so much as a drizzle. Everything was dry, super dusty and gnarly. Much like riding on a beach.

I went into the race without much aspiration as I wasn't going to win anyways. First lap, as usual, I was tearing myself inside out just to be within reasonable distance to the guys who knew what they were doing. There were some crazy steep, silty, technical climbs, which I made all of them except for one with a root step-up. The descents were equally loose and silty, with a washboard surface just for fun. 'Devil's Drop' was especially insane, and I had the fast juniors coming up behind me telling me to let off the brakes. Sorry for being an inexperienced roadie that forgot how hard mountain biking is. Other than that everyone was courteous about passing.

By the second lap I settled into my groove and was set up for a pretty good lap time. Some of the faster master group had caught up so I was giving myself a challenge to see how long I could keep up with them once they passed. On a root step-down near the finish, I somehow messed up and did a super endo of epic proportions, whacked my shoulder off a tree, and my bike ended up in the middle of the trail. Knowing that there were two riders not far behind, before I hit the ground I yelled out 'rider down!' (which quite likely sounded more like 'blearrghgrgl!'). I took a minute to collect myself and make sure I wasn't broken, then got back on my bike, at which point Jeff K had caught up to and passed me.

The third lap, I took it a bit easier as I now just wanted to finish in one piece. I finished, downed a chocolate milk, and trundled over to the paramedic's tent to get my shoulder abrasion cleaned up. No major cuts or anything broken but it should be a nice scab.

Out of 34 finishers in the Sr. Sport category (3 laps, 25km total) I finished 25th at 1h33'47", 17'19" back from the leader which is quite a bit better than last year's 21 minutes behind.

Yes, I suck greatly at mountain biking but I had fun!

First Tuesday evening club race

2010-04-20T22:05:00.003-04:00

Definitely worth a blog post.
With the introduction of a 'points' system to stir things up, this was the first Tuesday evening hammer-fest that actually felt like a real race.

This is the course with lots of hills to make the weak cry:

I started off easy and just hung out at the back of the pack through Hollow Rd., as in my mind I had a game plan that I wasn't sure if it would work. Starting the climb up Roland Rd. towards Effingham I employed my plan, mashed the big ring up the steep climb and kept it there until it started getting really steep. I dropped the main group but someone had already stole my idea, so now I was trying to bridge up to him. Another rider caught up to me and did some work to bridge the gap, then 5 or 6 others bridged up to us. We put a measurable gap on the field and had a good thing going...then I attempted a gear change and my front derailleur overshifted and dropped the chain. SUCK!!!
I managed to get the chain back on to just catch the back of the main field, very upset at this point, but at least I was still in the game.

The first climb up Saylor's kind of sucked, but it did spread out the field. Jeff K did some work on the downhill section and bridged up to another rider. Then I just dropped him on Cream St. anyways.

Back in a good size group along Metler, Rob V. puts some serious power down with Dan D. chasing for a good gap on the peleton all the way to Effingham. I tried my tactic of hammering the hill up Roland again, I opened a small solo gap, but since it was the last lap everyone had enough of my shenanigans and my gap closed up pretty quickly.

The final climb up Saylor's was faster. I was sitting in about 8-10th position, feeling a bit gassed, but passed a few people that were totally cooked. I saw Rob V. in 5th position trying to sprint up the hill. I wasn't sure if I could take him, but he lost energy near the top, so I gave it what I could and was able to just barely sprint by him to steal 5th position.

That was just such an awesome ride that this blog post just doesn't do justice to the excitement of it all. I think that was my best ride ever on the Saylor's course, and I'm certainly stronger than last year. Next week is the flat course. I have much less of an advantage here, so I just plan to sit in the pack, maybe do some work, and finish with the group.

First 3h ride of the year

2010-04-03T14:11:00.002-04:00

Rode out from my house at 8am to meet up with the club in Jordan for my first Saturday club ride of the year, which also happens to be the hilly ride.
It was 20C when I went out my front door, so I eschewed the leg warmers. I didn't realize how much colder it would be as I got to the escarpment into Jordan - it was like someone hit a switch to turn the temperature down by 10C instantly. Riding by the lake it was even colder and my fingers were freezing. Good thing I kept the arm warmers on at least.
My original plan was to only do one escarpment climb, but after the first climb I was still feeling good so I dropped back down with a small group to do the second Mountainview climb. The rest took off and did two more climbs west of Beamsville.
After lounging in the sun at Tim's the group set off. I got persuaded to ride with a group of 4 others to do Saylor's to finish off the day. My legs were pretty much cooked from the constant head and cross-winds so I barely made it up Saylor's.

Definitely a good day though and I'm happy I was able to stay strong as long as I did.

Yesterday was a good 2h ride with Jeff K. We rambled around the West Lincoln area (also with lots of headwind), climbed up the escarpment at Jordan and rode down some really crappy gravel road.

Tomorrow I plan on riding with the club again for the flat route. The wind is going to be strong again, and my legs will probably still be a bit tired so I'll have to see how long I can hold on. Unfortunately it's not going to be 25C again :(

Racing is pointless (April fools)

2010-04-01T07:29:00.002-04:00

I've recently realized that racing is totally pointless. Really all I want to do is cruise around the Canal Path and Niagara Parkway on Sundays. I'm tired of paying race fees to ride around for an hour and a half for some random result that doesn't really mean anything. I'm sick of the endless pursuit to make myself a better, faster, stronger rider only to get completely destroyed by several other riders anyways.

Here's how pointless racing at the club level is:

In road racing, you sit in a pack for an hour with a bunch incompetent riders you swear just graduated from tricycles, and then in the last lap you battle for a position up front, risking a potential debilitating wreck, because if you don't, you're pretty much screwed for contention in the final sprint. Come to think of it, you're screwed anyways because there will always be some sandbagger in the group to take the podium anyways.

In XC racing, you're pretty much on your own, and you have to deal with masses of muck, rocks, sticks, inclines and descents that are even impossible to walk up, all while attempting to pass riders who blew up early in the race on a track not much wider than an average doorway. On dry days you inhale so much dust that a doctor might think you're a smoker. If you don't wreck at least 5 times during the race, you're not riding hard enough, and even then, some sandbagger will steal the glory from you anyways.

Cyclocross might be the most pointless of them all. The races might only be 40 minutes at the beginner level, but you're riding a bike that is terrible for on-road use, atrocious off-road, and come to think of it, the bikes are even pretty useless for their intended purpose. In that 40 minutes, all you're doing is turning yourself inside out riding around some random park, and if you don't vomit at some point during the race, you're not riding hard enough. Then some sandbagger will go and lap you anyways.

Because of this decision, I will be parting with all three of my race bikes, the spare wheelsets, and other random race gear.

That doesn't mean I'm going to quit riding completely. In fact, I've picked up a beautiful lugged steel frame designed for randonneur-type riding.

For some reason I can't get the image to display (stupid blogger editor), so you have to click the following link to take a look at it. I highly recommend taking a look, it's absolutely beautiful.

Click here for the picture!!!

Race schedule revised

2010-03-30T10:29:00.002-04:00

Due to being sick with this stupid cold virus going around (starting to get over it though) I have to cancel plans to race Good Friday. I was going to suck anyways and this cold has kept me off the bike for a week now.
I took Calabogie Classic off the schedule as well. Although it would be neat to race on a motorsports track, the traveling is just too much. So, depending on trail conditions my first races will be MTB O-Cups, and first road race will be in Burlington. That will also give me some time for formal race training sessions.

The long weekend coming up is looking very nice though so expect to see some ride report blog posts.

Prepping for the Tuesday Evening World Cup series

2010-03-24T21:21:00.002-04:00

Prep work has begun for the Tuesday Evening World Cup series, which starts around the end of April. With the time change, and roads cleaned with the help of buckets of rain, I can now ride my favourite summer evening 1 hour hammer-fest course. Unlike some, I don't have the time to put in 3 hours a day on the bike, but 1 hour of intensity is still better than nothing. Bombing at 45kph through the Hollow is a great stress reliever, and ~150m of climbing might help me get some of those legs back. I can ascend Saylor's without much drama, but it sure ain't fast (fighting off a cold doesn't help much here).

Eventually, I'll have to start putting some time on the MTB as well.

Sunday ride

2010-03-07T12:46:00.003-05:00

Hooked up with the Sunday club ride today. The sun and temperature was very nice, and several people were showing off their shiny new machines. The pace is starting to pick up now, and with a rather stiff headwind it was difficult at times to stay on pace. The tailwind going into Smithville was awesome though, 35-40kph pace was easy!
Traveling down Maple back home the headwind was killing me and my legs had absolutely nothing left, but the club members I was with are awesome and made sure I wasn't left dead in the water. With more time in the saddle that endurance will come back soon enough.

As far as my bike, it seems to be working awesome. The shifting is lightning fast now with Dura-Ace components handling that. Vittoria Open Pave tires are very smooth and roll nicely at about 80psi (perfect for spring road conditions). The brakes work fine but the modulation is not anywhere near as good as dual-pivot calipers. I may try running them a bit looser to see if I can get better stopping power.

Yes I do ride my bike

2010-03-06T17:48:00.004-05:00

My bike isn't just eye candy, it does get used, and as part of a beautiful weekend (the mercury hit 8C today!) it has been out twice already; 1 hour last night and 2 hours with Jeff today as a send off for his trip along with a bunch of other local cyclists down to South Carolina. I sure wish I could be going but I have to spend that week in Vaughan for a building code course (exciting...)
We rambled around the north-east corner of the Niagara Peninsula and got about 55km ride in, with fairly light traffic. The wind was light, but still noticeable travelling down the Niagara Parkway! I'm planning on riding with the club tomorrow as well, so that should be another 70km or so.

Check out those stylin' poses. And no traffic on the Niagara Parkway what??

Today is also the second birthday of my Mazda 3, so I treated it to a nice wash to get all that nasty off it. Having a hose with hot water iz da bomb. It has almost 50,000km on it now.

Buildings I worked on

2010-02-28T14:04:00.006-05:00

Wondering what I do all day, and how I afford to buy awesome bikes? Technically, I'm an Architectural Technologist. Really, I sit at a computer and draw a bunch of colourful lines, which eventually turn into 3-dimensional structures. Here are a few pictures of some of the structures I designed completely or did a portion of the design work. For security reasons I can't publicly post the names of the owners or the locations.

1. An approx. 20,000 square foot, 58 foot high (at the highest bay) addition to an existing building. Pre-engineered steel structure housing an overhead crane in each section.

2. We demolished an existing deteriorating concrete wall and rotted wood roof structure (complete with weeds growing on it) and replaced it with insulated metal panels and a metal roof system. The small structures you see sticking out house existing sprinkler equipment which we had to work around. This is only the first phase, we're going to be renovating the building you see in the background as well.

3. This was a small pre-engineered steel addition (about 5000 square feet) to an existing building. The structure was designed to suit an overhead crane. The client also needed a loading dock, which requires special foundation conditions and site grading work.
Additionally, at this site we completed a roof retrofit on the existing lower building (it was completely rusted out), and repainted all the cladding.

4. This was a huge addition (I believe 35,000 square feet) constructed with a pre-engineered steel structure and insulated metal panels. Several interior 'rooms' were constructed to suit the client's needs, and special folding hangar doors were installed.

5. This building was built to house mechanical equipment. Of special note is the steel structure spanning over the roof of the building to support a large condenser unit. Also for this client, we designed and built wood pole structures, with open walls, but covered with a metal roof.

6. It's not just buildings we design and construct. We built this 6,000 square foot freezer and cooler unit for a client inside an existing building. The concrete slab had to be cut and removed so we could install venting underneath to prevent the (new) concrete slab from heaving and cracking from the extreme temperatures. Automatic sliding doors were installed where required.

So that's all I have for now, when I get more pictures of the buildings I've worked on I'll post some more in the future.

First club ride of the year

2010-02-21T13:01:00.003-05:00

First club ride of the year today, about 20 riders showed up and honestly you couldn't have asked for a nicer day in the middle of February. Too bad it won't last though, but at least I'm starting to get some time in the saddle.
Since I can catch the Sunday club rides literally outside my front door, the distance was about 70km with only a whisper of elevation change but I was pretty much cooked on the way back home down Maple. I was able to hang on the whole time, and even was able to take a few pulls (although very short) on the way in to Smithville.

Halp

2010-02-12T23:36:00.009-05:00

I am drowning in a sea of Vittoria tires.

Also hey look, another ski video. Not featuring me this time, but my brother and Ryan borrowed my GoPro for the day at KB (wish I could go on a weekday)

Frostbike Winter MTB race report

2010-02-07T17:22:00.005-05:00

I headed out to Port Colborne this morning to ride the Frostbike Winter MTB race put on by the Shorthills Cycling Club. When I left it was kind of dreary and -10C, so I layered up appropriately, but by the time we lined up to start the sun had come out and it was nice!
The faster guys went out first and I started in the 5th wave or so. The trails were groomed much better than when we rode on Friday night but it was still quite difficult to stay in a straight line. I lost the other two I was riding with fairly quickly, then a few minutes later I get passed by Sara (I still don't believe you've been riding for less than a year).
I settled in at a reasonable pace, and after falling, running and generally sliding around everywhere I finished the first lap.

I then managed to convince a few others to go again for a 'fun' second lap. I rode with Sara the whole lap at a recreational pace. The course conditions had deteriorated a bit, and there was mud and more ice which made it trickier. At the end, with some heckling from bystanders, Sara took the sprint finish.

Overall a fantastic race, great organization and a fun time at the Funky Monkey for awards and chili afterwards!

My first lap was 51:54, and second lap (fun lap) was 1:02:11. That put me in 9th in M under 30 (or 4th last lol), or somewhere mid-pack overall. Snow races are not my forté but it was just a fun thing, and supporting the club.

Now I have to get my butt in gear for Good Friday (less than 8 weeks away)

Picture below by Andrew V

A couple more pictures by 'cbell56'. The only picture of somebody crashed and it has to be me.

Another day at KB

2010-01-31T22:12:00.003-05:00

Just got back from another day of skiing at Kissing Bridge with Ryan.
It was not a very pleasant day, weather-wise. Cold. Windy. Snowing. The skiing was decent but a lot of the outer-edge and steeper runs had ice and/or thin spots.
My game was totally on today. Where I could, I was carving up the piste like a madman. My skis (150cm Atomic Metron 9's with custom mounted Solomon S810 Ti bindings) are a lot of help as they are crazy wide, flexible, and have a short turning radius. Basically they have the ability to make a sloppy skier look half-decent. I was going to grab my snowblades for a bit of fun but the glades weren't very rideable due to ice and bare spots.
A day of downhill skiing is always fun :)

No videos today though, it wouldn't have been exciting, with the weather it would have just looked like a shaky grey mass.

Awesome day for a ride

2010-01-23T19:22:00.003-05:00

Last night, I got a message from Justin to go for a ride with a few others starting at Brock this morning.

Couldn't have asked for a better day. It was sunny, and a balmy 1 degrees C. A group of ten riders showed up but we split down to 8 after a short distance, and headed into a headwind towards NOTL. After a short break at Picard's and watching Justin and Andrew do faceplants into a snowbank, we continued up the Niagara Parkway to Queenston Heights for a little KOM competition.
Heading back towards St. Catharines via York Road, Andrew's crank arm decided to fall off. I had to make sure I wasn't riding with Jeff Moote...lol. He got everything tightened back up and we made our way back to St. Catharines to stop at the Tim's by the hospital.
Since I was the only one that drove out, I still had a climb back up the escarpment (along with Justin and Andrew) to Brock.

All-in-all, a fantastic ride. I feel it's time to start putting more hours in the saddle to get ready for race season. In addition to about an hour last night, today was close to 3 hours for me (and somewhere around 75km) and it felt great. I think I'm going to be able to get back in to shape with just a few solid weeks of training.

Video - skiing at KB

2010-01-17T21:24:00.002-05:00

I know it took a while but here's some of the skiing footage I shot with my GoPro HD at Kissing Bridge. The video has been compressed for web viewing which really does not do this little wonder any justice.

If you haven't figured it out, I'm definitely not a pro video editor nor skier. However the music is quite possibly the greatest skiing song ever.

Kissing Bridge Jan 9 10 from Rob Watt on Vimeo.

Ski time

2010-01-09T22:29:00.002-05:00

Went down to Kissing Bridge to take in some downhill skiing with Dan Dakin today. Wow...the conditions were pretty much perfect. Almost all the runs were open, all groomed slopes with just a hint of fresh fluffy powder on top. The only thing that would have made it better is if it wasn't -12C. But the wind was on the other side of the hill so it wasn't bad until the sun started to disappear.
Dan was hitting the glades at every opportunity. I wasn't that brave, but we were hitting some killer black diamond slopes (the woop-de-dos were AWESOME), and I think I skied better today than I ever had before.

I had my GoPro HD on my head for much of the day. I'll be uploading a video later :)

2010 Race Schedule

2010-01-05T23:34:00.003-05:00

The OCA posted their preliminary O-Cup schedules so I've posted my plans accordingly. The schedule looks a bit more spread out than last year (particularly the road O-Cups). A bit odd that there are no road races in the east (I guess they couldn't book Calabogie race track), but the Burlington road race is intriguing, and Bike the Bruce later in the summer so I won't freeze in a tent.
Only 12 weeks 'til the first race. Time to get in shape.

Yes, I'm going to try XC O-Cups again. I'd like to improve my technical skills, and this is the last year I'm racing the Senior age category for XC. It's going to be highly dependent on trail conditions though. Mud fests - no thanks.

And of course cyclocross. MOAR PLZ!

What I did in 2009

2009-12-25T21:41:00.007-05:00

Warning: long winded post ahead...

What happened in 2009:

Best training aide: Joining the St. Catharines Cycling Club. I gained a few friends and learned so much through the club rides, Tuesday night races, and time trials. I worked my way up from being left far behind on the Sunday club ride, to being one of the stronger (on the hilly course anyways) 'B' class riders. Next year maybe I'll try to hang on to the 'A' group.

Most memorable race: Bike the Bruce. The whole experience...driving 5 hours to get there, the camp fire, freezing in a tent and getting rained on, the mosquitoes, the crash involving 3 SCCC members, and getting 3rd in my category. I'll never forget that race.

Best race performance (road): K-W Classic. It was a tough race on a short course with short climbs and a long, winding downhill section, but I hung in there and managed to finish with the field.

Best race performance (MTB): L!B 8x12 #8. I started and rode far more aggressively than usual, had Ryan as my own personal drill sergeant, and ended up cutting 2 minutes off my previous best time of the year.

Best race performance (CX): I pretty much sucked at all of these, but at Riverdale I finally started to get it and I think I put in a strong effort, and won against a few people who are normally way faster than me on the road.

Best races I should have done: I didn't discover how epic cyclocross is until way late in the season.

Worst race: There was nothing wrong with the organization, but this one goes to Albion Hills O-Cup. The mud...my god, THE MUD!!! NOOO!!! This could also be tied with the Welland Crit as I discovered I really suck at crits.

Best 'I don't think I'm going to make it' moment: The P2A race. After several hours of battling 40kph headwinds, I locked up and just about died on the final climb, but shuffled my way up the hill and remounted my bike to cross the line.

What I tried, but probably won't again: Duathlons. I did fairly well (especially the bike portion), organization and the prizes are great, I got a medal, but foot injury will keep me from doing it again. I'll stick to cycling.

Best new bike components:
MTB: Continental Race King 2.2" Supersonic tires. Holy crap these are fantastic tires for the local terrain.
Road: 3T Ergonova handlebars. Perfect for scrawny cyclists like yours truly, I can actually use the drops.
CX: Kool Stop brake pads. They actually make the bike stop!!!

Most pointless new bike components: All the blueness I just put on my MTB. So ridiculous. Yet so bling.

Best new cycling apparel: DeFeet socks. If you haven't tried them, then you won't understand.

Other memorable moments:

- The ongoing battle against Jeff K at races
- A severe thunderstorm coming out of nowhere in the middle of a time trial
- Being in a 2-man breakaway (B/C group) during one of the Tuesday night races, and winning the sprint
- Doing a 6-man paceline at 40kph during a charity ride
- Being on the podium in my age cat. for the L!B 8x12 series
- Crushing most of the competition on the bike portion of a duathlon (and getting a medal)
- Experiencing night trail riding for the first time
- Being a jumping, trash-talking, cowbell-ringing, snowball-chucking, cyclocross fanboy.

2009 race results:

Road:
Apr 10 - O-Cup #1 Good Friday - 1h41'49" (-11'54") 98th ov; 29th S4
May 24 - O-Cup #4 Bike the Bruce - 1h34'25" (0'00") 8th ov; 3rd S4
June 14 - O-Cup #5 K-W Classic - 1h31'59" (0'00") 39th ov; 16th S4
Aug 1 - Welland Crit - 1h08'08" (-10'41") 16th ov

MTB:
Apr 19 - Paris to Ancaster - 2h59'40" 541 ov; 58th M20-29
Apr 26 - O-Cup #1 Mansfield - 1h45'22" (-21'11") 28th Sr.Sport
May 10 - O-Cup #2 Albion Hills - 2h02'40" (-28'24") 34th Sr.Sport
May 13 - L!B 8x12 #1 - 43'08" 24th
May 27 - L!B 8x12 #2 - 44'51" 20th
May 31 - O-Cup #3 Hardwood Hills - 1h41'56" (-24'22") 33rd Sr.Sport
June 10 - L!B 8x12 #3 - 45'07" 35th
June 24 - L!B 8x12 #4 - 42'32" 23rd
July 8 - L!B 8x12 #5 - 42'22" 23rd
July 22 - L!B 8x12 #6 - 44'53" 27th
Aug 5 - L!B 8x12 #7 - 42'44" 23rd
Aug 19 - L!B 8x12 #8 - 40'34" 20th
Sep 27 - L!B Off-Road Squeezer - 1h34'31" 71st ov; 16th M20-29

CX:
Nov 1 - Firemen's Park - 8th
Nov 7 - Nassagaweya Narly - 8th (-5'35")
Nov 14 - Kissing Bridge - 17th (-1 lap) (Open Sr. Men)
Nov 22 - Riverdale - 10th (-4'34")
Dec 13 - Hespeler - 15th (-10'29")

Duathlon:
Sep 5 - Guelph Lake II - 1h42'14" 64th ov; 9th M20-29
Sep 20 - Lakeside II - 1h51'30" 21st ov; 2nd M20-29

Best wishes in the New Year to all my fellow bloggers, and thanks for all the great cycling memories!

Disco Inferno: the Kona Hei Hei build

2009-12-23T21:22:00.004-05:00

Finally, my Kona Hei Hei can steer, brake, shift gears, and I can sit on it and make it go fast once again. There are a few different shades of blue, but oh well, it's shiny.
Alligator iLinks are relatively simple to install, and to be able to shorten or extend the housing to any length is truly convenient.
Finished weight is 10.63kg / 23.4 pounds. Not sure if that qualifies as a light bike by today's standards but I haven't had any problems getting up any hill :)

The only things left are to swap the quick-release seat clamp for a bolt-on collar (blue preferably), and change the stem to 100mm/0 degree, probably Easton EA70 or EA90 to match the handlebar. The secondary wheelset - FSA XC-300 - will be getting knobbier tires for spring conditions. Since I like my Continental Race Kings, I'm checking out the Mountain King 2.2" Supersonic for this duty.
~~When I get the knobby tires, I will be selling a pair of lightly used Schwalbe Racing Ralph Evo 2.1" (470g each), $50 for the pair, so if you want them, put your dibs in now.~~ sold

First winter trail ride

2009-12-20T15:48:00.003-05:00

Took a ride around the 12 Mile Creek / Short Hills trails today with the Short Hills Cycling Club. The trails were dry (could even be considered dusty) with patches of slick ice here and there. But because the soil is frozen, it was very, very rough on an aluminum frame with a rigid fork and 1.25" wide tires. My brain was being shaken senseless and I think I dropped my spine somewhere in the Short Hills. Although I did have brakes this time (Kool Stop pads are excellent) I'm never again riding the cross bike on the trails. I need my nice full suspension mountain bike back.

Speaking of the mountain bike, the last piece of the puzzle arrived, a Chris King NoThreadset. Guess the colour. It's replacing a FSA Orbit DL headset, which has some issues with being about as smooth as a bag of rocks. The CK unit has sealed bearings and a 10 year warranty, so it should last a long time, and even transfer to a new frame when (not if) the Kona breaks. It's just waiting at the LBS to be pressed in the head tube, then I can finally get all these parts off my floor.

If you guessed yellow, you'd be completely and utterly WRONG.

Yay, more parts!

2009-12-15T23:12:00.004-05:00

This winter has obviously turned in to the reconfiguration of my bikes. I just received another shipment of random parts.

The mountain bike is pretty much as good as it's going to get, so it just gets new cables and replacement of worn out parts (and some unnecessary bling thrown in just for fun). I'm still waiting on a rather important piece so I can finally put it back together and get all these parts off my floor.
Speaking of which, here is a sneak peak of said bling. It serves no performance purpose at all, but it's blue and shiny. I like shiny. Notice new cable-less shifting technology and ultra-light invisible pedals.

A2Z blue chainring bolts
Blue derailleur jockey wheels
A2Z Ti skewers (in blue of course). I actually ordered cro-mo skewers but I received titanium. I'm hoping they function as nice as they look.

Next, the road bike. I recieved the Planet X Ultralight CNC brake calipers and Ti skewers. They seem to be very well constructed with titanium hardware and a nice finish. They were packaged with allen keys and wrenches, and a few spare parts. Setup was a bit finicky until I discovered one of my cable housings was too short, and I don't particularly like the 'ball and latch' release design (as opposed to clamping the cable), but upon initial inspection they seem to function well. Not to mention at 194g, they're stupid light compared to 300g+ for the standard Shimano offering. The skewers are not super light but the construction seems solid and they look quite good. At the price the package is being sold for it's a steal, and they were shipped via FedEx.

The updated build sheet is below. Arrgh, only 26g away from 16 pounds flat!!! So close! But seeing as how the bike was over 18.5 pounds when I got it, I guess almost 16 is pretty sweet.

Lastly, the cross bike received a previously enjoyed pair of wheels and tires from Jeff M. The wheels are White Industries H2 hubs laced to Velocity Escape tubular rims and weigh in at 1417g for the pair. The acceleration difference over the Fulcrum Racing 3's (or Mavic Aksiums) is amazing. Glued to these are FMB SSC 34 Coton tubulars. These aren't just any tubular tire. They're Francois Marie Boyaux, each one hand made in a shed in a small coastal French town.
I can't say how well the tires work as I've just used them in snow, but they are highly regarded in the cyclocross world. I feel like such a poser lining up in the beginner's category with these, but meh...is it against the rules for a beginner to have nice things? Coincidentally, the casing colour does kind of match my frame... :)

Race report: The Hespeler GP of Snowcross

2009-12-13T19:37:00.004-05:00

On a lovely, grey, freezing drizzle day, Justin and I headed up Hwy. 6 towards Cambridge to compete in a 'for fun' cyclocross race. On the Hamilton end of the highway, the ground is free from the flaky frozen water-based material known as snow, but heading up the escarpment, all the sudden the ground is covered in it. How hard could it really be to ride in snow?
Getting to the race, the rain did stop, however it was still damp and icky out, so I decided to opt for the high-visibility windbreaker for some water resistance. By the time I registered, and got everything set up it was 15 minutes to start so I did not get much of a chance to get warmed up.
Nathan came over to check the air pressure in the tubulars I got from Jeff, and decided to let a few small blips of air out (I told you he would, Jeff). The 1 or 2 psi he let out really wouldn't have made a huge difference since there's hardly any tire that would work well here.

The start was a short sprint up a paved parking lot. Justin took the holeshot and celebrated victory before the first corner. After that corner, everyone got off their bikes and suddenly our cycling race turned into a running race. Getting back on the bike was pretty much useless, as there was just more off-camber snow hills that you'd have to run anyways. The faster guys (or the riders that could stay upright) took off and I got dropped pretty quickly.

There was a lot of off-camber slippery stuff, deep snow, uphills that shouldn't have been any problem if it was dry, downhills that were super sketchy with frozen brakes, and every corner I nearly slipped and fell over (sometimes I did). Getting back on the bike was not easy...attempting a flying leap just resulted in the bike stopping dead in the snow. During the last lap, a total downpour of freezing rain started and I became completely soaked, and it didn't help that Jay decided to whip snowballs at me.

I stayed with two other riders for a while, then crashed a few times and they both took off. I managed to catch one of them and by the last lap I did pass him. I started to ride a bit faster to hold him off, but with my brakes frozen, I just crashed a few more times and he got by right near the finish. At that point I decided I'd just run the 50m or so to the finish line.

Watching the second race was awesome. Justin and I stuck around to be cyclocross fanboys and get Jay back for the snowballs. Nathan and Erik were ridiculously fast...I have no clue how they did it.

I'm not sure of my results (pretty close to DFL) but I had fun. In the 45 minute race I completed three (and a bit) laps. So yes, riding in the snow is ridiculously difficult. Oh, and I apparently won a prime of $20 for being one of the slowest out there (first person to do a lap past the 20 minute mark). Also picked up a nice Louis Garneau water bottle. So the most ridiculous race I've ever done was totally worth it.

The best part of the race is that everything is actually cleaner than it was before! My shoes are the cleanest they've ever been. My bike doesn't need to be washed (maybe oil the chain), and my wheels/tires are spotless. Hooray!

One bike put back together

2009-12-07T09:06:00.004-05:00

Got my road bike cleaned and pieced back together. It wasn't that hard to do, all that's required is a few allen keys and some specific tools. It's just time consuming due to misplacing random parts, but the most time was spent wrapping bar tape. I got all the cables adjusted and the gears are shifting nicely. The Gore cables are very smooth. It's ready for spring...before winter even started. :(

As a note, I don't own a flash, so I just used my Airbike light as a handheld spot, reflected off the ceiling. Seems to work quite well, and good light colour :)

Here's the current build list. I didn't include weights of grease, oil, air, nor the thin layer of wax I applied to the frame and fork. I can see the real weight weenies squirming in their seats. I'm just a nerd. Numbers are fun.

Besides wheels (carbon tubulars would be much lighter), the only area I can shave significant weight is the brakes. And I'm going to be replacing the calipers (and as a bonus, the skewers) with Planet X Ultralight CNC brakes.

Of hammer drills and carbon fibre lightness

2009-12-05T17:28:00.007-05:00

My to-do list is getting shorter every day.

Given the impending sense of snowy doom, I installed the snow tires and wheels on my car. My favourite power tool is definitely the hammer drill. Better to get it done now, while the ground is still dry as my "all-season" (if you happen to live in California) tires are terrible in any condition other than dry and warm. They're due for replacement anyways. Speaking of which, the lifespan of Goodyear RS-A tires is deplorable. My car does not even have 45K km on it, I drive quite conservatively, but the tires are done for, and they weren't even used last winter! I'm installing a set of good summer-specific tires next year.

Now what you're here for of course is my bike.

The rebuild of the Kona Hei Hei has been put on hold. I'm waiting on a few small parts, most of which serve absolutely no performance benefit. However, one part is replacing something worn out. All I can say is that there will be 33% extra bling factor, as if a ball-burnished frame wasn't bling enough. You'll have to wait and see (no spilling the beans Jeff!)

I've stripped down my Louis Garneau Sonix 6.4 to it's bare frame, fork, and a pile of bits. As I have everything I need (and no extra bling, I promise) it'll be cleaned and hopefully put back together tomorrow compete with a build list.

As far as new parts, all that is required is new derailleur and brake cables (Gore Ride On low friction) and bar tape (Fizik Microtex).

I also picked up a new saddle. My Selle San Marco Ponza is not particularly comfortable and has stitching in the wrong place which created a lumpy spot and bothered me (see pic below). I looked considered all the options...cheap, expensive, gel, cut-outs; in the end I decided a traditional, but top-shelf saddle would be worth it for those long summer rides. I came across a great deal on a Selle Italia Flite kit Carbonio (carbon rails). The Flite shape has been around for ages so it must be quite good, and the carbon rails just add lightness (check that weight weenie pic out).

On the subject of weight weenies, check out the weights of my frame and fork. Even including a gram or two (haha) of random dirt and grease they are quite light.

Frame = 1065g including water bottle bolts, barrel adjusters
Fork = 343g including compression plug

Also, here is one of the super-light bottle cages I got from Dan at Chase Bicycle Products (I got the two last pieces).

Off-season project #1 - mountain bike rebuild

2009-11-24T22:53:00.003-05:00

With the close of mountain biking season for me, it is time to strip down, clean, apply new grease, and adjust my mountain bike. At this time I will also be replacing the derailleur cables with Alligator iLink cables (in blue, of course) to add an extra bit of bling.

So far, I've completed the strip down part. Dirt fell out of random areas; now all I'm left with is a frame, fork, and a box of bits. I could have left several parts on, but I also see this as a learning experience. Learning how to build up a bike will be very beneficial.

I will also be compiling a build list complete with weights for the gear freaks out there. For now, if you're interested, the frame - '07 Kona Hei Hei 16" - complete with shock, and hardware comes in at 2107g (4.65lb). Very light for an aluminum full suspension frame! The fork - Rockshox SID Race - is 1294g (2.85lb).
I also got a proper weight on my wheelset. Mavic XC717 disc rims, laced to Shimano XTR hubs with DT Supercomp spokes and brass nipples, front is 711g, rear 842g = 1553g.

Next project is doing the same to the road bike (which should be simpler). The cross bike will have to wait 'til spring as it's just going to get all crappy and salty over the winter anyways.

Riverdale CX race report

2009-11-22T18:28:00.011-05:00

Today was the cyclocross race at Riverdale Park in Toronto presented by Cycle Solutions/Angry Johnny's racing.

I really wanted to do a helmet-cam video for all of you, however the OCA Commissaire lay the smacketh down on that idea. Oh well, worth a shot and I wasn't about to be DQ'ed for disobeying the officials.

Before I get into the report let me just say how much I despise the City of Toronto. Seems like every time I go there, or pass through, something peculiar happens. Usually it's ridiculous traffic or the highway being closed off and being forced to take an alternate route. The latter did happen today, with the highway closed just past Grimsby due to a collision of some sort. The AM 680 traffic report bailed me out once again, so I was able to exit the highway and take an alternate route before being forced off and being stuck in snarls of traffic.
The next snafu occurred within Toronto city limits. Riverdale park does not have a dedicated parking lot, so I had to find street parking on some random residential side street. I hadn't noticed that some locations were permit parking only before 10am, and some before 7am. Well wouldn't it just so happen that I parked in a 10am zone, and the parking enforcement officer decided to make a last minute check. I recieved a parking ticket for thirty dollars. $30! For parking on a residential street lined with cars already on a Sunday morning. I was really jeopardizing the parking situation. Enjoy my hard-earned money you fat cats in Toronto. Choice four letter words and rude gestures to you.

Now that I have that off my chest, the actual race report...

The course was well laid out, with a fast, flat section on a gravel running track, some loops around baseball diamonds, a torturous forced run-up, and a couple of wicked fast descents. It was a true test of skill, power and determination.
Right off the start, I found myself near the back (ahead of two others), but after the forced run-up some riders had over-done the starting sprint and slowed down significantly. I gained 3 positions within the first lap and proceeded to pass the stragglers of the Master's field (who had a 1 minute head start). I gained one more position on the 3rd lap, the rider I passed dropped his chain on a slippery mud section. He was riding faster laps than me for the last two, and I saw that he was gaining on me at the last lap, but I gave everything I had to hold him off.
Coming up to the finish, on the final round-about the running track I spotted two riders (one of which happened to be in my category) a couple hundred metres ahead that looked like they were hurting, so the roadie in me kicked in and I opened the taps for a full on sprint. I gained a lot of ground on them and a ~15-20 second gap quickly turned in to just 5 seconds. If there was 100m more, I would have surely overtaken and gained a position.
Overall, I am very happy with my result. The course was tough but I rode well, and did not crash or have any mechanical issues this time. I think for my fourth race, and having no formal cyclocross training, my performance was very good.

Perhaps the best part of the race was the announcer recognizing my town as the hometown of Steve Bauer. My name and Steve Bauer in the same sentence. I had some big shoes to fill following that announcement.

I ended up 4:34 behind the winner (fellow SCCC rider Geoff Hartley) and 16 seconds ahead of my challenger.

Lap times as follows:
1 - 9:00; 2 - 8:27; 3 - 8:47 (hurting here); 4 - 8:39 (adrenaline kicks in); 5 - 8:30 (hammer to the finish)
Overall 10th, time 43:23, gap 4:34

Photo by shapelike O_o

I'm having such a fun time with cyclocross that it's unfortunate that this may have been my last race this year. Yes, Subway cross is coming up, but due to my intense hatred for Toronto I don't think I will be doing it. Also the weather coming up this week does not look ideal. Call me a prissy roadie but I just don't find any fun in slogging through thick muck just to end up cold, wet, tired and covered in filth (i.e. Albion Hills O-Cup and P2A).

Congrats to Nathan Chown for destroying the entire Senior field, Brandon Etzl for an awesome sprint to the finish to take the Junior win, Aly Armstrong for a 2nd in the Women's and Geoff Hartley for winning the Beginner's category. St. Catharines riders had a strong presence at this race!

I've uploaded a bunch of photos here:

Riverdale CX photo album (mostly local riders but there are some others)

Some samples...

Kissing Bridge CX race report!

2009-11-14T20:21:00.003-05:00

My day started at 7am, getting a ride down to KB with Bryan and Trev. We got there shortly after 8am, likely the first riders to show up. Lots of time to check out the course and 5 hours before my race (Bryan's race was at 11am). I pre-rode the course a few times, watched the 45+ men and women's categories. Bryan had a mishap with his seatpost and pretty much had to finish the race standing on the pedals. He rode very strong though, and all the St. Catharines riders showed the Americans that we're determined to kick butt.

Next was my race. It was an open men's category, which meant I'd be racing against some very fast guys including local CX'er Nathan Chown. It also meant that the race would be 60 minutes, rather than the usual 40 minutes for the 'beginner' category in Ontario. I had set two goals. I wanted to get 6 laps, and I wanted revenge on Jeff.
Being a ski resort, the course was bound to use the hill as part of the challenge. And it did use a portion of the hill. Those ski hills are much steeper than they look in the winter. A portion of the course was out-and-back on a flat dirt road, up and across the ski hill, and the rest was the usual maze of tape. Some mud here and there, one man-made barrier, and we have ourselves a loop.
I started out with the first lap on Jeff's wheel, just to scope out my competition. The second lap I was able to pull away on the hill (while talking words of encouragement to myself) and put a decent gap. The third lap I saw a rider I knew (although in the 35+ category) starting to gain some ground on me, so I tried to hold him off as much as I could. I got a bit over-zealous on a slick corner and went down pretty hard, dropping my chain and bending my derailleur hanger in the process. 3 riders passed me while fixing my bike, and now I was stuck in the 23T cog in the back with only the front derailleur useable. It wasn't so bad other than I couldn't put down much speed on the dirt road, and the climbs were even more difficult. I was able to overtake 2 of the 3 riders that passed me though.
Lap 4 I was able to make it up the hill, but lap 5 and 6 (final lap) I couldn't and had to hike-a-bike. My legs were getting tired by the last lap and had a bit of a muscle cramp, but once the course started to go back down to the finish I put the hammer down and held off a couple riders trying to get by.
I ended up in 17th out of 28 that finished, and only got lapped by the really fast guys once. I did 6 laps and beat Jeff by 58 seconds. Good job to Jeff. You rode strong but I got you this time.

Photos of me by Stephen Cheung:

Stupid things happening before a race

2009-11-13T20:59:00.005-05:00

Damn you Friday the 13th and your curse!!!
I'm doing the CX race at Kissing Bridge tomorrow, so I went to lube my chain and noticed my bike was not shifting correctly. Adjust the rear derailleur, it shifts correctly for one rotation, then won't go higher than the 3rd cog on the way back up and the shifting is ridiculously stiff. After a lot of cursing and twisting the adjuster barrel (resulting in it becoming cross-threaded, hooray), I discover that one of the cable housings decided to compress itself.
Well, luckily I happened to have a full Dura Ace cableset. I wanted to reserve it for my road bike but racing takes priority and I didn't want to use my mountain bike, so now my cross bike has Dura Ace (albeit one piece of housing and a cable) and shifts perfectly.

Nassagaweya Narly CX report

2009-11-07T21:13:00.007-05:00

Edited Nov 9/09: added photos of myself.
Edited Nov 10/09: official results added.

Well I decided to give another cyclocross race a try. This one wasn't a casual gathering like last weekend. This was serious.

The weather was excellent (mild, sunny, sort of windy), and the course was mostly dry with some mud patches sprinkled in here and there. This race took place on a horse farm, so horse patties were omnipresent and much of the terrain was very rough. A few short, steep climbs were thrown in to make things interesting and almost ALL of the dismounts were large logs.

I started off and stayed on Jeff's wheel for a bit, passing some of the slower M3 riders in the process. Experience (the lack thereof) got the better of me after a few of the dismounts and he was able to pull away. Being a vertically challenged person, I HATE giant logs.

Eventually, I settled in a good pace and was just overtaking the odd M3 rider here and there. I had a challenger for a lap, which motivated me and I started to close the gap on Jeff. The logs again got me though and the challenger and Jeff moved away.

On the last lap, suddenly I heard a MASSIVE breathing noise directly behind me. I thought I was being chased by a horse, but it was a racer closing the gap behind me with huge effort. I managed to hold him off for a bit without much trouble but he ended up getting me at the end. By the last lap though, I was quite exhausted from the rough terrain and couldn't put the hammer down to finish strong.

Dan Dakin ended up winning the race. I finished 8th in the beginner men's category, 5:35 behind Dan. Pretty much I placed ahead of one rider and one that DNF. For what it's worth there was less than a 30 second gap between 6th position and myself, and I got 8 points to put my name on the list for the Southern Ontario CX challenge. I have to start somewhere; I had fun and I'd do it again. Planning on racing CSAJ Cross and Subway Cross coming up in Toronto.

The best parts of the day were cheering on Brandon Etzl as he destroyed the whole Junior and M2 field, as well as Jeff Moote in the Elite category (who performed an awesome holeshot). Having my own cheering squad really helped out (I think it was Neil and Aly?) Thanks!

And yes Jeff, you won this round. I will get you one of these times.

Here are a few photos courtesy of shapelike on flickr of yours truly suffering at this race. You can see my super awesome log hopping skills, and my finely tuned Tokyo drift knee balancing maneuver.

I've also uploaded several photos from the day: Click here for the album