Cured!

Finally free of knee pain!
The physio clinic at McMaster tried one more thing that fixed me pretty much immediately. I don't know the anatomy that well in the area, but there is a nerve that runs near the groin, through the psoas muscle (hip flexors). Basically they thought that being bent over on a bike compressed it, and that was adding to the pain, and potential muscle weakness. This made sense to me as the pain only occurred while I was biking. So to treat that, they wanted to stretch out the muscles in the area with active relief, and they gave me some hip flexor stretches to do at home.

Since then I have been doing my spin classes pain free, even did a 1hr 45min trainer ride fine!

Today I braved the cold and conquered my first ride back outside. Went with three other strong riders for a nice 2hr cross ride. I have definitely lost most of my form from early September :p Good thing april is still a couple months away because I am going to need a bit more work before I am good to race again. This is an easy building stage in my training anyway so I think I am right where I am suppose to be!

Once I get a few more rides in I will let you know about the Northwave Celsius boot. Wanted to do some winter riding to stay away form the trainer if I could so I picked these puppies off of Chain Reaction Cycles. So far so good!

Knee Update!

I took two full weeks off of cycling, even gave up my spin classes on doctors orders. I went to the sports medicine clinic at McMaster for a second opinion because I didnt want to spend extra time off the bike if I didn't have to. They told me patellofemoral syndrome, which is just a big word for knee pain. I signed on for some physio there as well. Here they told me my adductors are tight but not weak, by my glutes were really weak. They used active release on my adductors and gave me some strength building exercises for the glutes. So I am currently comboing physio and active relief treatments.
During my off period I cut squats out, and swam for cardio. Still not good to go on the bike full time but I can use the elliptical with a knee brace keeping the patella in place. Today I added squats back into my workout routine and as of yesterday I started doing my spin classes again (taking them easy). I definitely feel a lot better since I added the extra glute work so we will see how much longer I need!
Once im good to go ill be out riding in the cold and will hopefully have some porduct reviews up or at least something better to read!

Fighting knee issues

Hey guys,
Havent been up to a whole lot of riding due to knee problems. I'm writing to tell you a bit about it, in case you are experiencing similar problems,  and also so I can remember exactly what I did if it comes back.

Its been about a month of this pain and it has been getting worse. I went to a walk-in and the doctor was stumped and settled with the idea of pinched ligaments in the knee. It kept getting worse up until now where I can only bike for 15-20mins before the pain kicks in (huge drop from the 5hrs I did at the centurion mid september!). The weird part is, is that it is only biking that hurts it, I can run, swim and do weights (squats and other leg exercises) pain free. The symptoms were similar to chrondomalacia so I knew I had a misalignment problem.

Today I went to the active relief centre in hamilton on referral from the great Steven Baker. Here they told me that my glutes were not firing, and my adductor wasnt completely firing. This creates a situation where the quads have to work harder, and it puts added stress on the knee joint.
So how do you get them to fire, and how much power have I missed out on in the season with this problem!? When they mentioned the glutes I was not surprised. I had issues with them earlier in the summer and went for a massage. Lesson learned, completely take care of a problem or it will come back to haunt you. So to fix it, I have been given some easy exercises that specifically target the nonworking muscle groups.

Being the science student I am, I had to do more research on this. Turns out weak glutes are an all too common problem in athletes, with repercussions such as knee and lower back pain. From this I found out two more good exercises to add to my arsenal, one legged squats and one legged dead lifts! A study was done that showed that these had one of the highest glute activation percentages.

The knee is a very complex joint, and if you are having problems I would highly suggest you see a professional to diagnose the issue. Having a functional knee is very important, and making sure it works right now, will save you from worse issues down the road. I will provide updates as I progress, probably every week. Any questions or words of advice feel free to comment!

University MTB Cup Series

Hey guys, sorry it has been a while since an update. Ive been super busy with school, biking, and some unfortunate events that have happened. But I've cleared some time to write to you now!
An update on my last three races of the year. There is a sweet inter-university (and college) series that is hosted by UofT. With UofT, guelph and queen's being the big teams, mcmaster is trying to get ourselves a presence out on the trails! If you, or someone you know rides bikes and is still in school get them to come out! Its tons of fun and super laid back. Everyone is just there to have a good time and get rid of school stress. Info can be found here: http://mtnbike.sa.utoronto.ca/oumrc/oumrc_mission.htm Of course if you want to get involved with the McMaster Cycling club you can join the facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/mcmastercycling/

The first race was a weekend of events at Mansfield that I missed due to the centurion. I did it last year and it was tons of fun, i would suggest anyone that has the opportunity to come out to the Mansfield race to do so. There's a time trial, crit (mtb spin on it which is tons of fun) on Saturday, you camp out for the night and race Sunday.
The second race was at Boler mountain in London. This venue was to try and get more western riders out, but they weren't coming so we will be saying good bye to this course next year. It was a lot of climbing, each lap we went up the ski hill, and there were no shortage of climbs once we got to the top. There was a sick little jump and a lot of fast single track. An awesome course overall.
The third race was at hardwood. Unlike boler, this course was wet and slippery. Being a 'roadie' I was immediately at more of a disadvantage. I took it a bit easier on the technical sections and just had fun with it. Hardwood has tons of fun singletrack, I always love riding here!
The last race was at Ganaraska Forest. It was pouring rain the day before, and the morning of. It was a mud bath! I had been having some problems with my knee since thanksgiving weekend and was hoping it would be better. This and a few other factors led to my first ever DNF. My body went through a lot in its first real season of racing and training and it called it quits. Lap times were super slow and I didn't want my knee to get any worse so I pulled the plug a lap early. It was a really fun course just wish I felt better.
You might notice I didn't mention my results :p Last year I tied for first in the Mens B division. (last year I tried my go at mtb ocup racing so I was a bit more familiar with the trails). This year I moved up, and wasn't as fast on the mountain bike as I hoped. Just an excuse to train harder for next year! If your still curious I was at the bottom of the list :p I will post some pics from boler under the pictures tab.
Results of all events can be found here: http://mtnbike.sa.utoronto.ca/results.html 
Congrats for McMaster taking 5th in the team standings! No garmin data (if you really want to see it im sure you could get to it from my other links). The edge 800 didnt track in the woods so well. Maybe I have to take it off road only or something. Just didnt get the distances right but ohwell!

Well this is it for my race season, I will keep you posted with some of my off season shenanigans and maybe some product reviews. Have to thank my coach Jeff Kehler for all the help this year, I've grow a ton. And of course couldn't have done any of this without the support of my family and friends!

Im a Centurian!

This past weekend I was at Blue mountain for the centurion. I did the provincial hill climb on saturday evening and the C100 on sunday morning. The weather was nice, but a little chilly at night and in the morning. I took a lot of time off this past week because my legs felt like hell the previous weekend, so I was hoping to have something to give this weekend.
The hill climb was done on scenic caves road. It was a 3.5km course with a 1km lead out. The hill averaged a gruelling 12%. This was my longest hill climb yet so I was unsure how hard to go at the start so that I didnt blow up before the finish. When I started I went hard on the flat to cover more ground while it was easy. Once I hit the first corner, it got steep. I felt like I wanted another gear! I tried my best to avg 14km/h up the hill but I fell down to 12 towards to top. I finished the longer (than last year) course with 10:23! That was good enough for 7th overall and second for u23!
Sunday was the C100. A long hilly 170km loop through the area surrounding Blue Mountains. It started with a slow leadout around 5km, moving around 20km/h. The race kicked off with a cat 3 climb, and the leaders werent holding back. It was a struggle to hang on, and it tore the field apart. At the top of the climb there may have been around 90 people in the peloton, down from a couple hundred. It was a struggle to hang on to the fast group but I was able to for 80km and conquer two more hills with them. After that I blew up. I figured id last around that long because all my training this year has been for races around 80km. For the rest of the race I had to watch groups bike past me. I had nothing left in the legs to jump on and hang on to their pace (which wasnt overly fast by any means). The last two big climbs were brutal for me. The one was a KOM and I watched tons of people go by me. I consider myself to be a good climber but I was not able to showcase my talents here. At the end of the race there was a guy about 25m ahead of me, and I was going to sprint for the crowd and get him at the line. As soon as I stood up my legs were screaming! Needless to say I sat back down and rode across the line. I finished 10/23 in my age group, and was 203/954 overall. 170km took me just under 5hrs, and without the lead out avg 35.6km/h.

Overall I think I had a great end to my road season and look forward to kicking some but in cat 3!
Garmin data:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/223625527  (C100)
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/223117566  (hill climb)
Results:http://www.sportstats.ca/displayResults.xhtml?racecode=103133  (hill climb)
http://sportstats.ca/displayResults.xhtml?racecode=101443 (C100)

Hill climb pic will be posted soon under photos, and maybe centurion pics if they post up some of me!

CRITASTIC!

This past labour day weekend I went with my family down to Windsor where I raced in two criteriums.  The first one was the provincial crit, and the second was the tour via Italia. The weather was great for both courses and both were closed off. I haven’t done well in the two crits I had done already this year so I was hoping to change that. 

Starting with the first one, which was 40 mins plus 3 laps (sportif). 3 Laps in I worked to the front and started attacking on the small hill on the course. They let me go and I stayed away for 3 laps before I coasted until they caught me. I kept attacking just to tire out the bunch and to have some fun. No one wanted to work (what a surprise) so I found myself chasing all the other attacks. Finally I said I wasn’t going to cover the attack and save energy for the end. One guy then gets away and had a decent gap going into the last lap. I moved to the front in hopes of salvaging the possible first place. We caught him at the final corner, but then I got boxed in for the sprint giving me a 9^th place.  This race was just for fun for me anyways and practice.

The second one was 20 laps of a 2km course in the little Italy section of Windsor.  On the third stretch someone parked their car on the road which startled the group. Someone ended up wrapping it in caution tape and after our race it was towed for the women's race.  Again I found myself attacking early in the race before sitting back in. No one again wanted to work, so when Niles attacked I found myself having to move up to reel him back in.  I played it safe trying to stay out of trouble for the race. The last lap it picked up and I made sure I held my position into the final corner. I took the corner a bit wide setting me back a bit. I opened up and flew up the side into 7^th spot and 3^rd in the elite 4! My brother said, "From where we were we thought you were going to win, you flew right up the side passing people!" The only problem with this race was it was very disorganized with the podium. Everyone that had to wait, was waiting for several hours. OCA officials were getting frustrated with all the questions and im sure they will have something to say to the organizer. Other than that it was awesome!

First podium for a crit, and my fastest sprint at 57.2km/h on flat ground and no wind! Definitely have had huge improvements this year.
Next year I look forward to racing with Coach Chris and having a team to support me and work with. Also next year I look forward to moving up into cat 3!
Pictures should be added soon! (I have not forgotten about the pics page :p )
 Garmin data! And results
Italia -- http://connect.garmin.com/activity/218388358

http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20120902-232251-tdviresults.htm
Prov--- http://connect.garmin.com/activity/218388378  

http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20120901-224832-wpcresults.htm

Now I look towards provincial hill climb, and the centurion road race in barrie. I will finally get to race with my buddy, the one and only Andrew House!  Hopefully I can hang on to him.  After that my mtb season starts with the university cup!

2 shades of grey

Saturday was the last ontario cup race of the season and I was hoping to get enough points to move me into first place. This race was held on the roads surrounding horseshoe valley resort, north of barrie. The weather was pretty wet so I was stuck using my training wheels because they had more traction on the wet, slippery roads. The course was a good one with lots of rollers (next to no flat sections), although it didnt seem like an ideal setup for people to watch, due the the loops and finish line being a few km away from the resort (and parking).

I started the race knowing who I needed to beat. I started at the front and kept a good position for the first lap. Three guys tried a break away that lasted about 5 mins before they threw in the towel. The second lap things started to pick up and I found myself sliding back in the group. At the end of the second lap I was at the very back and knew I had to get lucky to get back to the front as the group was riding the width of the lane making it tough to move up.

I had to strategize and move up where I could. On the up hills I attacked harder, and sprinted out of the corners faster to slowly creep my way up to the peloton. These were the only times gaps would form. On the stretch before the turn onto the finish leg I found myself near the front and made sure I held my position. Two CHCH guys were doing the work, but they were masters riders so it worked for me.

As I turned onto the finish leg three guys went for it again. I saw the sign saying 5km to go. I knew they tired themselves out earlier and this pack looked hungry so they werent staying away. We turned a corner onto 3rd line which went uphill. We caught the guys here and they fell back. I did everything I could to stay near the front. It was hard for me to see (the rain got to my glasses and i couldnt see clearly). This made it very difficult to judge when to start sprinting. I waited for someone else to start it. As I started sprinting I noticed they guy I wanted to beat to move up in the points standings and we were neck and neck. I used everything to get a few inches ahead. I thought I took the win. I was so focused on beating this rider that I didnt pay attention to the guy beside me who probably beat me by an inch. The closest finish I have ever seen. The top four elite four guys all within a wheel length!

I was still happy with second place, it was the best ocup race result I have ever had! (not including the time trial) I was happy with my pack riding skills this time, im really starting to figure it out I think. What I need to work on is practicing the 'lunge' at the end of my sprints. If I did this I probably could have won. Hopefully this result will be enough for the OCA to upgrade me to elite 3!

On sunday my girlfriend Lise raced her last ontario triathlon in niagara. She did amazing coming in second place in her age group. She pulled her best placings in this race and showed huge improvements on the swim.

For some data:
garmin: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/209895180
results: http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20120812-142812-wbresults.htm
final ocup standings: http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20120812-024233-Ontario%20Cup%20Road%20Standings%202012.pdf

Sorry no pics in this post, stay tuned for a pictures page where I will post a few pics from each race (if I have them).

It was over before it began...

Today was the Tour de Terra Cotta. The weather was beautiful and the course was awesome. Completely closed with no yellow line rule. During the weekend I was having problems with a tendon on the back of my knee and was hoping that it wouldnt hurt me today.

We got there early for my girlfriend to race the 26km race. She was terrified to do a road race but did terrific! For not having much big group riding practice she held her own and finished 3rd overall for the women in the race.

My race started with a 3km neutral start which ended just after the first hill. I never knew the race could be won in the neutral start! You would almost think it the way people were crazily jockeying for positions. Not wanting to get into trouble I found myself sliding back. Right near the end of the 3km there was a nasty pile up, and I got stuck behind it! There was a group of around 20 of us that were now 30secs or more off the pack.

Out of this group of 20 only about 5 of us were willing to work to get back into the race. The group sucked at taking turns, with no one wanting to push before the hill. I would signal that I was done and needed a switch and no one would take my spot so Id have to let up because I had nothing left and once the speed dropped about 10kph someone would take over. Due to this we were never able to catch up.

Throughout the race the pack was dropping people and picking people up. Towards the end we even dropped greg paupst who did a lot of work in the pack early on and didnt have enough. Fellow HCC rider Sarah Rasmussen fell back to our group for a bit, she just didnt havent have enough to stay on to the group till the end due to her hard riding at provincial track cycling.

For the last lap I was planning on getting some work on setting myself up for a good sprint. On the third stretch a reckless mattamy homes/racer sportif rider made a move cutting me off. I made the decision it wasnt worth crashing in this race , we were only fighting for 70th position. Took it easy until the end to roll into 90th position out of 172.

Tactically I should have been in the front of the pack to start and throughout the race to avoid problems. I liked how I tried to take control, although it didnt work. Im definitely getting stronger and I was glad that I made it the whole race. With an avg speed the same as my other races but with 40km extra tacked on, I was glad I had enough conditioning to make it.

Next up for me is the WOB ocup race next weekend. With a good result I could take over 1st place in the ocup standings!

Tic toc, tic toc...

This past weekend was the ocup Bike the Bruce ITT. Racers are sent off one at a time in a race against the clock. The fastest rider wins. (Good equipment definitely plays a factor into this).  Aerodynamics is the name of the game here, especially when it was as windy as it was on sunday. Lacking a time trial bike I had to ride this one Merckx style (for those unaware, Eddie Merckx is a legendary cyclist and he was able to dominate time trials without the use of the time trial bars to get you into a better position).  In my category there were only two other riders, one completely decked out in gear and another riding Merckx.
The course was relatively flat out and back style. At about the 1.5km mark there was a short steep downhill. Here I thought I was going to crash because I started to get some insane speed wobbles. Luckily I made it through and kept riding. At about 9km there was a gravel patch about 15ft long from construction. Just had to play it safe going through there and avoid and flats or unnecessary crashes. Before I hit the end of the first stretch I had a waterloo cycling guy from E3 pass me. This kind of dropped my hopes and reinforcing the knowledge that I wasn't going as fast as I wanted.
On the way back I tried to push harder but the wind was killer. You never got a break from the wind on the course, not out nor back. I was able catch the other Merckx E4 rider before the steep uphill. I powered up the climb trying not to redline too far so that I didnt drop to a stop to recover. I pushed it as hard as I could till the finish.

Equipment wise I really wish I had TT extensions at least. I needed to get lower as I was too upright. Im also going to try to work on my back flexibility to help this (I am very inflexible :p) . I used the giro selector helmet, which is a great helmet. For that hot of a day (30+) the visor stops the sweat from evaporating. I spent most of the race trying to wipe it out of my eyes. While the visor looks great, its definitely not for me on hot days.

Overall I finished second, 3 mins back off first. I wanted to avg 41, but I got 38.6km/h. I know I can go faster, as I have done in both 40km TT and 15km TT. I don't know if it was the heat, the wind, my legs but I was slower than I should have been. Either way I earned a bunch of upgrade points and ocup points. I now sit 5th in the standings!

No pics but here are some links
Garmin :   http://connect.garmin.com/activity/202099902
Results:  http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20120723-204950-bbresults.htm
Picture:  http://www.sportszonephotography.ca/Cycling-2012/Bike-The-Bruce-O-Cup-TT/Part-II-Later-Startng-Racers/24334495_NH5hNn#!i=1982809916&k=txFBZjF

As always thanks for reading!!

He Shoots He Scores!

Today was the provincial championships located just outside of Bradford, Ontario. It was a great 12km loop that had flat start/finish, side 2 had a nice downhill for recovery, side 3 was flat to rolling hills, and the fourth side had a hill strava has listed as 'the beast'. I didnt find it all that bad of a hill, but thats kind of biased because I love to climb! This is a long post but lots of action!

The weather was perfect for the sportif race that launched in the morning. It was only 3 laps long, making it feel almost too short to go to. I knew I didn't have the conditioning for the much longer u23 race. So I thought I would have some fun with some tactics in the sportif race (which is what the elite 4 men are 'suppose' to do). From the get go my plan was to attack the first lap on the hill and try the break away. If the third lap came around and I was still in the group i would sit back and rest for the sprint.

The race started at a fairly slow pace. No one wanted to work it seemed. On the third stretch on one of the rollers, Mark riding for LapDogs, attacked. It was a bit earlier than I wanted to go so I moved up and started to go after him. I looked over my shoulder and noticed I was bringing everyone with me. I backed off and waited for the hill. The hill was the steepest at the bottom. Halfway up the steep section I jumped and had bridged the gap by the top of the hill. No one else came with me which was perfect! I immediately took command as I wanted this to hold. We started rotating every 30seconds keeping the pace high. The downhill on the second stretch allowed for much needed recovery time every lap.

On the second lap we started to pass some masters riders that started 2 mins before us. I knew we were doing good and had to keep it up. I encouraged him that 2nd place was better than last so we needed to work together and go! I was having chain problems (quick derailleur adjustment before the race screwed it up, should have let it be!). I almost dropped my chain on the second time up the hill. I let out a nice curse word then realized I was alright so I kept going. I was hoping that the Mark wouldnt take advantage of this on the last lap and leave me on the hill.

We got through to our last lap and I couldnt see the chasers behind us. Now it was time to make sure I had some left for the end, but not to slow down too much. Mark had his own plan having me take the wind during most of the third stretch with the hill. Lucky for me he didnt attack then. Once we turned the corner to the home stretch he went! I couldnt grab his wheel and thought I had lost it. I remembered Wiggins' tactic from watch the tour and tried to reel him in slowly. It worked and 500m left I was on his wheel. He slowed right up and let me back on the front. I kept the pace high enough to try and prevent him from recovering, but slow enough that I could still sprint. Now I was thinking of David Millar's win just a few days ago when he took the win from the front. I was watching the shadow waiting for a move. At the 200m mark I knew I would hit my max speed right by the finish line. At that point he hadnt gone yet so I figured it's in my best interest to sprint to the finish! All my sprint training the past few weeks paid off and he couldn't get by me! I took my first ever road victory!!! We ended up making a gap of just under 2 mins on the next group back which shows some good things for the time trial ahead next weekend!!

Tactically wise this race, everything went the way I wanted it to. The only thing for next time is to not screw with my derailleur just before the race!
Links: results http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20120715-205541-prresults.htm
Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/199675090

And a picture of the sprint to go home with! (courtesy of the Lovely Lise Munsie)

Round and Round We Go!

This past weekend was the CHIN picnic criterium. It was held on a short 1.4km course that is part of the molson indy track to be held soon. Overall a fun, fast course with some tight and dangerous corners.  The weather was perfect for the 8am race and there was a start group of about 50. I had high hopes for this race as my legs were feeling great all week. I was also just getting over a cold so I was hoping it wouldnt hold me back. 


 I had trouble clipping in at the start, so I started at the back. Then a few laps in there was a huge pile up just before the lap finish. I came to a stop to try and avoid it. Spent ~4laps (about 8mins) maxed out trying to catch back on. Finally got back on and tried to recover. The whole race was me catching back on then getting pushed back due to a crash or flat. My pack riding skills need a lot of work. I was able to get to the front towards the end but ended up dropping right back (perhaps I was being to cautious with my energy). In the last lap I had to slow down to avoid two crashes, one flat, and had to hop a curb to get past some guys slowing down that were cutting me off. I ended up finishing back behind the lead guys by almost half a minute.


For the next race I need to ride more aggressively, and trust my legs. I need to be at the front or near the front. I know I have the speed and power to win a race, I just need to ride smarter. The only good thing that came from the race was that I did not crash. Also I am now ranked 9th in the Elite 4 division of the Ontario Cup.


I have next weekend off, and Im racing next at holland marsh challenge. After that I get to show the boys my speed at the the bike the bruce TT !


Here are some links if your interested. The first being the race results, the second my garmin page. 
http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20120702-112443-chinresults.htm
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/194611833

24hr Summer Solstice!

This past weekend was the 24 hour race that everyone loves. The weather was amazing for the race (although some would argue we could have use a bit of rain). It took place at albion hills near Bolton. The track was fast, flowy, and super dry. You really had to be careful about sliding out in the corners. Riding mainly road this year my plan was to play it safe on the single track and then pin it on the double track.
I raced on the RacedayRush.com / Pfaff Audi team, and it was a great bunch of guys. All of them were fast and they knew quite a bit about the sport so I was able to learn a lot. The team suffered from a few mechanicals during the race and a few crashes but we were never discouraged.
The race for us came down to a fight over 3rd place. After two slow night laps (mine being the slowest)  the fourth place team was within 1 min of us. Luckily we had our fast guys already planned to be going out, which appeared to be against their slower riders. In the end their team wasnt able to come back in before noon in order to get that last lap in. So in the standings we finished one more lap completed than their team but it was a close battle.
Overall I had a great weekend. Maybe the long ride friday wasn't a great idea before a race but I was still able to pull off some decently fast laps. I would definitely recommend this race to anyone that loves to bike, especially mountain biking because it makes for a thrilling weekend. Even if your not aiming for the podium (a lot of the riders there werent. There were a lot of flat pedals, reflectors, baggy shorts, etc.) This week I prepare for CHIN picnic crit on Canada Day!

Heres a link to the results! (we were a 6-10 all male team!) http://chicoracing.com/results/409.html#Cat1

KW Classic from Hell

It was a beautiful day for the race. No wind, no rain but it was super hot. The course was roughly a 4.6km loop that was a little hilly (no true flat sections) that ran through a suburb with some nice houses, and then through an industrial area. There was a fast downhill corner into the suburb that got me scared every lap that something was going to end bad. The only other sketchy corner was the right turn out of the suburb heading toward the hill. There were a few bumps between riders here but from as far as I know, no one went down in our group.

The entire race my legs felt terrible. I could feel it in the warm up. It felt like I just couldn't get my legs to wake up, but i'm at a low in my training plan having just peaked for Niagara classic. That could account for it. But enough complaining, I came to ride bikes!

Still not wanting to DNF from a race a pushed through it. I didn't want to look weak to the other riders after looking so strong at Niagara so I took a few turns at the front hoping it would  'wake' my legs up. There was a solo breakaway that went around the third lap (out of 13). Not sure when we caught him but I guess he made it a lap or so. A few laps later, on the back stretch the masters had a bad crash. There were a few guys on the road and a truck blocking the road. Our group started yelling to get the truck to move. Andrew House was able to squeeze through with his speed and kept hammering. This caused everyone else to have to navigate around the truck and then have to sprint to catch back up.

The rest of the race I was trying to stay safe, and hang on to the group. On the last lap, I thought Id have no chance at the sprint. Coming up the last hill the right side of the road was open. I was a little scared because last time I did this at Springbank I got taken out. But it was worth a shot, so I took the right side of the road up from the back of the group to about the top 10-15 riders. Now every other race, I always started to sprint too early and end up getting passed by 5+ riders. This time I planned before the race, to start sprinting when I passed a certain road sign.We flew out of the chicane, and people started sprinting. I grabbed onto someones wheel, waiting patiently (sitting around 15th). Passed my sign and then opened up. It felt great! I flew by people the whole way up to the finish taking 8th overall and top under 23 (avg 38.7km/h over 60km incase you were curious on the speed). Andrew House ended up passing Jordan Broad on the line due to an early celebration that nearly got him disqualified (can't take both hands off the bars). This ended up giving him the victory.

Overall, with the conditions and how I felt I was very happy with my finish. My best OCUP finish so far! Happy with the sprint planning and finally having self control. The one thing I really need to work on is holding my place in a pack. I find I am yo-yoing from the front to the back and probably wasting a lot of energy in the process.
In case you are interested, heres the link to my garmin page for the ride! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/187757493

Heres a few pictures to thank you for stopping by! (Photo cred to the amazing Lise Munsie)

Jordan and Andrew Sprinting (im on the right side a ways back)

Me sprinting trying to make up lost ground

CHEESE :D

Niagara Classic!

This was a big race for me as my training plan had me peaking for this event. I have been feeling great all week so I knew today would work out great. The course was 5 laps of a 12km loop with a nice steep climb at the end of every lap. A lot of riders feared this effingham wall but I was not overly concerned. But maybe I should have been. It went through some nice quiet roads near Pelham, ON. that maybe could have been a bit wider :p The weather was beautiful, no wind and hot!

Now to break down my race. On the first lap I went through riding towards the front with my buddies on team CHCH. I wanted to be near the front so I could see what the course was like, not having pre rode. I tried to take it as easy as I could up the 'wall' but the guys at the front were pushing the pace. It didn't make much sense because once they got to the top they slowed right down so everyone could catch on.

Second lap I thought I'd better drop back and recover. This is where I found out no body wanted to do any work. Towards the end of the lap I worked back up to the front and tried picking it up again. Again I held the same strategy on the wall.

Third lap after the climb I went right to the front and started to push the pace hoping to break up the peloton a bit. For the rest of the lap I took it relatively easy to keep some gas in the tank.

The fourth lap was where things started to go. I was about half way back in the pack and we were going super easy. So on the third stretch I rode up the left side to the front and just started moving. I looked back and there was only one guy with me. I thought great, maybe we can work together and have this stick. Little did I know his teammate was 'guaranteed to win if it came to a group climb'. He didn't help at all. I was able to work hard enough to build up a decent gap and pick up some KOM points at the top of the hill. I kept trying to encourage him to help but he wanted none of it.

Fifth lap, we made it half way down the first stretch before buddy's teammate joined us. All of a sudden he wants to work now! It was too late though, as we got to the second stretch we were caught. I stayed towards the front of the pack with not as much energy as I would have liked being with everyone. Once we made it do effingham street I knew to stick to the left side just incase things went crazy on the climb that id have the left side of the road to move onto. That whole street on this lap was hell. I put too many eggs in the break away basket and didn't have enough time to recover for the climb. Although the guy that stuck with me was right, his teammate did take the the win. Now if only I had some teammates...

At the end of the day I was able to pull away a ninth place and top under 23 rider in s4. I was hoping for a bit better that ninth, but thats racing. Sometimes you need to take the risks and this time it didn't work for me. I had already changed back into normal clothes when my coach Jeff told me id get a medal for coming second in the KOM points total. I had to run back to my car, put on my sweaty HCC bike kit on and run back to make it back to the podium. At least I was able to leave the day with a medal!

Things that I took from this race. I definitely like how I was able to pick where I wanted to be in peloton today and not be at the mercy of it. I feel as though I gained some more respect from some of the riders so hopefully I wont get needlessly taken out like I was in springbank again. As always I gained more race experience which is something I definitely need at this point! From here I have a few weeks of 'rest' before KW classic!

Just incase your curious, heres links to results page and my garmin page!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/180204831
http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20120520-214442-ncresults.htm

A little bit about me...

I grew up riding bikes in Brantford, ON. One day my buddy Zach thought it would be a good idea to try the Paris to Ancaster. Prior to that we had only biked 30km on our furthest rides and thought we might as well get our money's worth and do the full 60km race. Neither of us had any idea of what we had got ourselves into, but we made it to the end! Ever since that first race I have been trying to push myself to go faster and further.

I started to get more serious into racing last year when I tried my luck in the OCUP mtb circuit. Now if you know Brantford you know there is not much good singletrack to train on. That put my technical skills at a disadvantage and despite my best efforts I was only able to place midpack in senior sport.

This year I decided to switch to road racing to see where it takes me. So far I am doing much better than last year so it looks like the road is here to stay! (of course I will still find time to mtb because its so much fun!).

Also this year I started receiving coaching from Jeff Kehler which has been amazing! He is a great guy and is always there to help me out for a race or questions for training. I've seen a lot of improvement already in the 2 months I have been with him and there will be many more to come!

I am also racing for the Hamilton Cycling Club this year. Its a great club and holds some pretty sweet time trials and hill climbs weekly! I encourage people to come out to them to build up the competition! (you don't need to be part of the club to participate)