A new season begins..

The Friday before the first race of the season, I'm feeling jumpy. I feel like I've been away from it all for so long. The California training camp was awesome and I followed that up with some really good weeks back here on the bike. Unfortunately (Ha) I missed out on an entire week because I went on vacation to Grand Cayman (poor me) And then I missed another week because the first week I was back I was swamped with work stuff and attending the CPMA convention here in Toronto. Meetings and dinners pretty much all week long, guests from Israel, the States and South Africa meant I had no time to ride. I almost feel fat being off the bike for two weeks.

I have however gotten out for a few rides, and they're mostly short lived because of this...

Yeah everywhere is as muddy as shit. And before you go biting my head off, the mud in this instance came in the first 150m of trail at which point I turned around. I can only make my way up to Joyride so many times before I start going crazy. I'm at the point where I need to be riding on dirt.

So back to the race this weekend! OCup #1 is Woodnewton, a built-from-scratch trail by the folks running the OCups. It features probably one of the fastest starts on the circuit as the startline is looking down a long double track straight that leads into some smooth corners. Two pacelines usually
form on either side of the track so it's a good idea to tuck in if you're happy with where you are. It's hard to make your way around with so many jockeying for position but you have to make sure you're poised to attack since there's usually a bottleneck as soon as the first singletrack hits.

I've never had a good race at Woodnewton. The first time I raced the course my front brake started leaking hydro fluid as I was lining up. First corner.. no braking power. Its was impossible to control the bike on the technical parts with just a rear so I called it a day. The second time I washed out on a corner and ended up stabbing a handlebar into my gut. I think the entire field passed me as I writhed in pain down in the bushes. I was so winded by the blow that I couldn't continue. Hardest I've ever gone down on a bike and it was on a flat corner... :(

So I'm hoping to turn things around this time and post a good result. (Considering my history with this course, that just means finishing)

Also just in time for the new race season my new shoes have arrived. Some Louis Garneau T-Flex 300s. My old LGs are permanently caked in mud and one of the buckles has come off the shoe so I knew I was due for a new pair. I hate that they're going to immediately lose their sheen and be all muddy :(

Preride tomorrow with Adam at the course. Hopefully the rain holds off and we have a dry session. It also looks like this will be the warmest weekend so far this year, we've all been waiting for it. Having said that though the winter spandex isn't going away yet...

Will post later with preride or race updates

California Training Camp Wrap Up

Three days back into Canada after my seven day training camp and we've had three days of snow. It's an easy decision to say I miss the SoCal sunshine. Having said that, I needed to come home - By the end of the seventh day my legs were too worn out to make anymore serious gains without several consecutive days of rest beforehand. By the end, my legs only had one speed, whether I was riding on flat ground or a grueling ascent. You try to will your legs on and you're not even feeling it cardio-wise, but your legs have essentially become tubes of concrete that keep spinning off of their own momentum and you can't put anymore energy into them. You just hope that they keep spinning an easy gear on their own.

Saturday was Day 6 of the training camp and as previously stated, my legs were feeling pretty worn out at this point. Adam decided it was prudent not to climb Gibraltar today and instead go for an easy spin on flat terrain. We did an easy spin on the road leading North to Ojai. Simple out and back ride that was about 80km over three and a half hours. We stopped at a park in Ojai just for a quick break and energy bar. Sitting in the sun and all of a sudden the thermometer on my Garmin shot up to 36C. Needless to say we stuck around a bit longer than needed just soaking up the warmth.

Ride to Ojai

The rest of the day was just spent stretching and rolling in the shack and lying in the sand on the beach. The wind picked up quite a bit so I dug a Chris-sized-hole in the sand to shelter me and still let me soak in the rays. More food and then onwards to Day 7!

Yay Day 7!

Ok so this was to be the final day of my training camp and the last chance I'd get to ride with everyone. This called for a ride of epic proportions. We drove to the same trails that we rode on Day 5 (albeit much further down the mountain) This time when we reached the top, we continued along the ridge rather than immediately heading back down. After traveling along the rode at the top for a bit, we took a descent that led us to the backside of the mountains. At this point we really found ourselves in the deep bush. We ended up going down several several trails until we found what we though t was the right one.

Not the right way, might as well snap a pic

The descents were hazardous with all of the thorn bushes on the side of the trail.I was following Adam down one of the trails and all I could hear was "ow......ow......OOWWW.....oww...oww" ad infinitum.
My legs are still scabbed over from all the cuts I got. They're still itchy too :(

Near Gibraltar Dam and an old abandoned building

As we continued on, it seemed more like we were on an old donkey trail - you could still feel the hoove marks = very bumpy. We finally came out of the bush around an old mining looking building and the Gibraltar Dam. My legs were pretty well and done at this point but we still had a super long climb back to the top and over. I slowly made my way to the top, way behind the others. At least the views on the way up were fantastic.

On the descent back down I could barely use my legs to keep standing on the bike. Once we hit pavement it was all downhill from there. We got back to the truck after just over five hours in the saddle, 60 km and 2200m of climbing.

Ride Map (forgot to turn it back on at one point)

So much climbing!

So I was dead after the ride, good thing it was the last one of the week. Monday was the flight home back to Canadaland and rest.

Side Note - Canada Customs now has electronic kiosks for citizens! So much win

It's always nice to hit the warm weather and blue skies...

But I missed my car

I'm kind of pissed at skiing right now though...

In closing, I must say that the trip overall was fantastic. Gorgeous weather, great company, 26 hours of great riding with NO FLATS. In fact no one flatted all week! And we were riding some of the sharpest rock gardens I've ever ridden in and still no issues. My goal now that I'm back is to make the best of the training I had in Cali and to continue building upon it - I can't let it go to waste. I'll be coming down from 26 hours to around 13-15 hours in weekly training time but I'll be making some slight changes to my diet and add some flexibility components to the usual routine. Hopefully all this work will have me dialed in an ready to go come the first race of the Ontario Cup season!

Review of my new Devinci Wooky to come....

California Day 5 - So stoked on this trail. So gnarly.

Somehow we got into watching the Shit People Say videos last night, Canadians and Mountain Bikers being some of them. During today's ride into the mountains we were throwing those quotes around left and right. (Definitely a moose) Also, for those of you who have seen the Danny Hart WC run with the crazy awesome commentators, we were able to crazily commentate our own resident Briton, Annie, with similar commentary such as "Stay on your bike Annie!" and "Look at the whip!" (If you don't understand the reference I highly suggest you look up Danny Hart's run)

This ride marked the first time since coming to California that I would be hitting single track and the first time I would be using a 29er as well. Let me just say now I feel stupid for ever smack talking 29ers. I would not have been able to do the crazy trails we did today if I had been riding my old 26er and that is a fact. The trail climbs up along the side of a mountain called Romero or something like that, maybe it was Romero Canyon... ANYWAYS it's a simple double track climb up to a junction where you can choose to climb higher, or descend on the gnarliest rock-strewn trail I have ever ridden. Since it was our first time ascending, we decided to make the first ascent one that goes all the way to the top. The trail becomes slightly more narrow while the air becomes slightly more chilly. The views however are the best I've seen since coming to California, just spectacular.

The descent from the very top of the mountain is pretty hairy - pretty much all high speed straights that suddenly end in steep hairpins with little warning. Oh and we're all exposed to the edge of the mountain and tumbling down with nothing to stop us (except the bottom). Oh and the gravel near the edge is very soft and prone to dropping away when it senses your wheel is there.

Thankfully we all make it down by way of trail riding and not by way of temporary and ill fated flight. This sets us up for the second half of the descent which isn't at all exposed, but rather littered with rocks and drops for its entire length. I made it to the bottom without falling which I feel would be a pretty good accomplishment in its own right. I wouldn't have been able to do it on a 26er, there were just too many sections for a smaller wheel to stall on and send you OTB.

Once we made it to the bottom, some split up to make loops of the shorter loop while I opted to repeat the whole ride again - things went slightly better.

We went out for dinner tonight to a place called The Taj, great place for Indian. Afterwards we went to Menchies for dessert and finally home for stretching, rolling and maybe a snack or two.

Three more days till home!

California Day 4 - A little R&R and time in the sun

I really needed today. No obligations or anything today in terms of hard training or work, it has almost felt like an actual vacation. Woke up just as early today so we could go get breakfast at Mrs Olson's Coffee Hut, apparently it's famous and people line up for hours on the weekends just to get a seat. It's also on some top 20 or 50 lists for best breakfasts in America. You certainly wouldn't assume so looking at the restaurant, it's not even very big, maybe able to seat around 40 people?

Eat the food there and holy shit you realise why they're famous. Best breakfast I can remember. I got the Ranchero, a massive omelette stuffed with chilli and salsa (with a bit more salsa on top:) with potatoes on the side. So not only was it delicious, the price was totally reasonable as well, not inflated from being on a "best of" list. After that a short walk back to the shack for more snacking and moseying around

Come 11am, Adam and I went for a quick jog as warm up for our strength workout. We completed three sets of the usual calisthenics, push-ups, sit-ups and the like. Doing them all on the beach was momentarily frustrating as we were both pretty worn out and not having a solid surface to push off of makes the movements slightly more difficult. (And in my worn out state, painful)

I'm currently writing this post from the beach. Things are nice and sunny but the wind is whipping things up. To combat this I've dug a hole and erected wind wall to shelter myself. It seems to be working as now I can only feel the warm sun

Tomorrow we'll be driving north for some single track action with other mountain bikers in the area. Very much looking forward to that.


I've included some pictures of the routes and elevation profiles of the rides so far in chronological order.

California Day 3 - My ass hurts and we're bombing some fire roads

Today was the third consecutive day of 100km. To mark the milestone I will personify my body parts so I can properly share how they're feeling

My legs are disgruntled and irritable

My ass is unhappy

Actually everything else feels rather good. So long as I'm not seated on a bicycle seat that is

ANYWAYS what happened on day 3 - we got going at the usual time from the beach shack, 10:30 ish. Although I did wake up a bit later due to just being more tired. Breakfast was four eggs instead of three and like twice as much watermelon. I'm definitely reaching that point where I'll eat myself into a food coma and then come out of it a few minutes later into a state of complete starvation. So we rode across the marina towards the Starbucks meeting place, met up with some other riders and started heading north along the coast. The wind was still really strong today but we were hoping for a tailwind on the way back. The goal for today was to climb Sulphur Mountain. Adam had climbed it a few days prior and named it "Where the fuck is the top."

Once we reached the base of the climb we had split up with some of the other riders. Continuing on, the climb quickly turns to dirt as we climb through a metal cow fence. Apparently the climb features some gnarly bumps, twisty switchbacks and cow patties. It starts off very gradual, any severe ups quickly flatten out again. The pace is raised but not redlined, we're all pretty chatty as we make our way up.

We run into more than a few bovines but manage to run around all of their mess. After climbing for about 45 minutes, we're pretty much above everything else so the views are spectacular. The forecasted high of 13 is wrong again as temps soar to 20. We joke that the single solitary cloud in view makes for horrible California riding and that we should turn back before a second cloud potentially shows up.

At this point, Adam's name for this climb starts to make a lot of sense. We've been climbing for about 20km and still no sign of the summit. It's not until almost 25km that we hit the high point and are able to take in the best view yet. There's even a huge mansion at the very top that looks like an Italian villa, complete with massive gate and waterfall.

We went down exactly the way we came. The 25km descent took 24 minutes and I captured it all on my GoPro (attached to the handlebars). For me the descent was pretty hairy. I had the same tires on for all the road work we've been doing so they were still pumped up to 45psi (note for non cyclists, this is extremely high for off roading) Also, the tires I'm using we're actually discontinued because they were so shit on dirt. The XR1's were an attempt to copy the Small Block Eights. Only they used bigger knobs, they rounded the ones on the outside and they used a harder compound. No it doesn't make sense but I'm using them because its a mountain bike tire that I don't care about burning out on the road. (My other tire is a Racing Ralph, it lost tread just riding around Joyride for two hours)

The bike would definitely skirt around some corners and a couple of times I had to skid the tail just to get the bike pointed where I wanted it to go. We hit the bottom and started our way back to Starbucks, extremely thankful for the semi tailwind we were getting. We wanted to see if Starbucks had the fabled "Trentas." The 30floz cup is only available in the states but unfortunately they only fill it with the frozen drink variety. We settled for the "medium" venti's instead.

Back at the shack and I'm tired as fuck. Thank god Thursday is a rest day, I fell asleep before I could post this...

California Day 2 - More climbing, more food and more climbing. (And then more food)

Can life get any more simple than this? I sleep, wake up, eat, ride, eat, ride, procure more eat, eat and finally sleep. I can't decide which one I like best. Last night I slept for almost ten hours and awoke feeling glorious. But then I had breakfast, comprising of 3 eggs scrambled with green onions and cheese, watermelon, cereal, cliff bar, yogurt and a glass of milk. So these two activities are awesome, how about the riding?

Holy shit. Thank god Adam has had me on a kickass training program throughout these winter months, otherwise I'm not sure I'd be able to do the route we did today. We left the beach hut in Oxnard around 10:30 and headed South. Temps were hovering just above 10 but the wind was howling so we were a bit more bundled up. We made our way onto the PCH, cruising along at about 35km/h with a steady tailwind. The views along this part of the highway are amazing so I made sure to snap a few pics. Once we reached Deer Creek Rd we turned off the highway to start our ascent.

There's no transition from the highway to the road, literally the moment you come off the highway you're facing the sky. Adam hadn't ridden this road yet so we both curious to see what it had in store. It had taken an hour for us to reach the base of the climb, and it wouldn't be for another 1:45 that we'd stop climbing. There was a brief downhill in there somewhere but hardly enough for the legs to realise they were getting a break. I had a moment where I almost went off road because the brakes on my new bicycle haven't broken in yet - squeezing the lever tighter as I approached a narrow bend at 60km/h did absolutely nothing. I was on the opposite side shoulder by the time I could get the bike to turn in. I got a laugh from Adam as he zipped by me in a lean worthy of a Moto GP rider.

The average gradient up Deer Creek Rd was around 13% and it peaked a couple of times at 22%. If you don't know what these numbers mean don't worry. It just means that going up them is ridiculous and shouldn't be ridden by anyone totally sane. Deer Creek ends halfway up another climb called Yerba Buena and it was on this road that I felt like a rock star. Going from a 13% average gradient to a 7-8% average gradient is a lesson in always looking on the bright side.
"Oh man this climb is hard"
"Yeah, but it ain't 22% fucking percent"
The best part about both of these climbs though was the complete lack of traffic. We didn't see a single person on either of the climbs. We rode up the mountain two abreast the whole way.

Upon reaching the top, the temperature had fallen to 7 degrees. Our plan was to come down Mulholland Rd so we zipped up so we wouldn't get cold on the descent and pushed off. The road was very smooth on the way down where we averaged about 60km/h. Several of the switchbacks were banked enough that we could actually feel some positive G's as we made our way around. Again, there were very few cars so were we're able to use up the entire lane. Finally and unfortunately, the descent ended right at the PCH.

From the base of Mulholland we would have had around an hour ride back to the shack. We would have if we didn't have every bit of wind from the Pacific blowing back in our faces. Even Adam going as hard as he could into the wind we could barely manage 24km/h. I was no help at this point as my legs had decided that they had done enough work for the day. It was almost all I could just to hang off his wheel.

So we make it back and I'm spent. Eating is too much energy for now so I put it off a little bit and just sit in the kitchen giving everyone the 1000yd stare. Finally I start to catch up and begin my feasting. But wait! Another trip to the grocery store is in order! I've been every single day I've been here and that trend looks to continue. Everyone eats like there's no tomorrow and once we've done that, we eat some more. I remember winter training camp with the Nordic ski team and the food we put away. On a per person basis, we at least rival it

Adam and Emily are huge health nuts, you won't find a single processed food item anywhere. They live off fruits and vegetables and I haven't yet seen them eat something that didn't look absolutely delicious. Their healthy eating habits stopped me from purchasing the mini egg Easter candy in the store that I so desperately crave. I think the best way to start having a healthy diet is to surround yourself with like minded people because all of a sudden, buying the usual sweets makes you feel guilty...

Finally, I uploaded my Garmin data to the system - 4:20 riding today for 103km. Best of all was the 1300m+ we spent climbing. Allowed me to burn about 2400 calories in the process. More of the same tomorrow, just on a different mountain

Day 1 Continued

The first day here in California is drawing to an end and I must say that things went better than expected. Woke up at about 7am (Still 10am ET for me though...) and after breakfast I was anxious to get out on the road. Temperatures were quite a bit warmer than what they were originally calling for but I'd be wearing just shorts and a jersey regardless.

I headed out on the road and turned North. I noticed my GPS hadn't picked up a satellite signal yet so as I waited, a roadie group overtook me. I caught up with them and chatted with a few of them and I thought it was hilarious that they thought this was a bad day weather wise for riding. All of them were decked out in full winter riding gear - full fingered gloves, long sleeves, cycling tights and even skull caps. One of them remarked that he was shocked to see me in short sleeves and bibs. Mind you that at this point the mercury had risen to 16.

I eventually parted ways with the group after I thanked them for the lift and continued on, parallel to the Pacific Coast Highway. The route had some of the best views I've seen in awhile. It was really cool to see all the surfers along the coast as well. After a brief stint where cyclists actually have to ride on the PCH (a wee bit more hairy than I would have liked) I turned off at Bates Rd which in turn brought me to a nice mountain climb with very little traffic, multiple switchbacks and a beautiful lake view at the top.

It felt really good to climb something for more than, say, 5 minutes. I climbed for at least 30 minutes before I reached Lake Casitas. It's a beautiful view and you can really feel the warmth of the sun now that you're away from the ocean. Temperature was now at 18. The descent that followed was very brisk, easily reaching 60km/h + as I followed the twisting road downwards towards the lakeshore. I finished the loop around the lake before following a bike path that led me back into town.

Just before I got back to the beach house, I ran into four members from The Team Ontario cycling team. Again I was able to hitch a ride with some roadies and get through the boring flats around Oxnard. The ride was just under 4 hours for 100km. Since I've gotten back I haven't stopped eating. Neither has anyone else really, we're all eating pretty much all the time. I also have a horrible tan now since I neglected to put on ay kind of sunscreen.

Riding tomorrow with be in the opposite direction as Adam and I go tackle some climbs to the south of us. Here's hoping I don't bonk.

California Day 1

Arrived in California last night. Flight was actually kind of decent despite the fact that I was right next to a new-born. Sat down and the first thing it did was puke on his/her mother's shoulder. Adam picked me up after a long wait for luggage but the important thing was that everything came through! An hour drive North along the coast and we arrived at the beach house.

Quickly got to sleep in my quadrant of the house. I have a tiny little bed nook that I just fit into. Made breakfast with Emily and Annie this morning as Adam has a dirt biking trip he's doing with one of his friends today.

Breakfast was three scrambled eggs with bacon and a cliff bar. One thing I missed about the US was their cheap food prices. Back home I would pay $2.50 for a single cliff bar but at the grocery store here I found a pack of 6 for $2.99. I'm definitely stocking up before I head home.

Adam has got me going exploring today, he's laid out a route with some nice climbs on it around 100km. Nothing too major today. Weather is overcast but as of 9am it looks like the sun really wants to break through the clouds. Expected high of 15.

Pictures
1.) my little bed nook at night
2.) The beach house! My room is located in the left little hut
3.) Turn around and this is the view of the ocean. Sand is everywhere!

To Oxnard, California!

Like many Canadians do during the winter months, I'm heading South to warmer weather. My trip isn't exactly a pleasure cruise though. I'm going to California to join up with my coach Adam Morka for a week of training under the warm sun and in the mountains of Santa Barbara.

Adam has given me a peek at what the week will hold training wise and according to my Training Peaks calendar I'm looking at at least 26 hours just on the bike. To say I'm excited is an understatement, especially that I'll be getting to train alongside Adam, a World Cup athlete, and his wife to be Emily Batty, Olympian for Canada in cross country mountain biking in London. (Including others!)

I'll be making an effort to update this blog throughout the week with the different kinds of things we'll be doing. I'll be riding my brand new 2013 Devinci Wooky Carbon SL 29er on the mountain roads of Gibraltor and various other mountain climbs. I saw a profile of one of the climbs Adam has already done and it showed a 15km climb. You'd be lucky to find 1km on any climbs here in Southern Ontario so again, I am so pumped up to get to even ride in a place like Oxnard.

SO, from today, the 17th until the 25 I will be riding my ass off in Sunny California. I'm currently writing this in an airport restaurant while I await my flight. Only took me 20 minutes to get though customs and security even with my massive bike box. I only hope I have no problems collecting my luggage on the other end, one reason I wanted to make sure I have a direct flight




My bike barely makes it into the confines of the box, I feel that if I had gone with a large frame that I would have been SOL. The 29er wheels don't make things any easier. Still, I got things packed up and hopefully protected well enough against the abuses of airport baggers. Come tomorrow we'll be just going for a little explorer ride. Check back tomorrow for some more updates

Off season Sport

Off season is the time you make up ground on your rivals. While everyone else is chilling on the couch and horking back the christmas cookies, you spend your evenings sweating your ass off on the damn trainer or spending your weekends at Joyride.

 Off season is also the time you switch things up with a little cross training. Even for someone such as myself who loves cycling, do it for 12 months and you'll suffer from a little bit of burnout. Myself I turn to cross country skiing. Before the snow hits I start off with roller skiing, the most stare inducing sport in the history of sport. Seriously you strap a couple of these to your feet...

And everyone you ski by will stare at you for the entirety of your time by them. They just can't stop staring. Of course when you use these...

You make a click click click sound everytime you pole, thus drawing their attention. They look at you like you're on a rollerblading rampage or something. Basically these are pieces of metal with wheels on either end. The top sheet is drilled like any other proper ski and the binding is screwed on so you can use your regular boots with them. The poles often have roller ski tips placed on them so to give you more grip when poling on pavement. Mind you I only use these until we get some proper snow, then it's off to the races at Highlands Nordic (Or Hardwood, depending on how far I want to drive)

Winter driving means really big following distances

Ski Swap

 Right so the drive up north means slow driving, but it means I can get some good skiing in on actual skis. Highlands got absolutely dumped on before I got there and the skiing conditions were perfect.

The snow may have been a bit soft in places but it's always nice to mix things up from the usual riding and get in some on snow workouts. Of course having not skied since this time last year means I'm horribly out of shape for it. Cross country skiing is the sport where your technique is far more important than your fitness. On a bicycle you can just mash the pedals and go fast, skiing you can move you legs and arms as fast as you want but unless you have them all properly coordinated then you aren't going anywhere.

The past three weekends I've gotten up to ski. I hope it translates into biking strength and form. If not, at least it staves off my eventual insanity from too much biking