Canadian Road National Championships

Oh my god, I just had the ride of my life! As I said on the Speed Theory blog, I was pumped just to be lining up with full-on pro's. Then I managed to get in, and do a couple of laps with, the winning break of the day. And not only did I manage to finish, but in a totally awesome, way better than expected, 38th out of 154 guys!

I'm stoked.

Sounds like dinner time

If I wait until I download an app that will rotate this video, my nieces will probably be old enough to do it for me (and tell me I'm an old git with no concept of technology), so here it is! Thanks for uploading, Tim!

And if my translation of baby is correct, it is time for me to go home for my own num-num's.... :)

The girls are walking! from Lachlan Holmes on Vimeo.

The lastest addition to the stable

It's getting a little cramped in my lounge room...

Banff Bike Fest

So this is what it's like to ride with the big dogs. So far this year I've had a roller coaster of decent finishes and DNFs (and, as someone suggested, a DNR - Did Not Register). Banff was unfortunately a bit of a low, performance-wise, with some mediocre results, including an ITT 46 seconds slower than last year. All that training....

BUT we had some killer weather, including just *perfect* Sunday RR conditions, on the sensational Banff Ave - Tunnel Mountain loop - I really felt like I was riding a stage of the Tour at some points -, and Trev put together some amazing performances to finish 12th in a super-strong field of 85 cat 1/2 and trade team cyclists, I got to live the pro life for 4 days and enjoyed great company with my awesome Speed Theory team mates.


A couple of pics from the cat 2/3 race: Charles, Ryan and Clarke leading the chase group...

...and Keith mixing it up with the leaders.

A test of commitment

Weather in Calgary has been particularly crappy lately. But with a bunch of big races this month (Speed Theory 40km TT, Pigeon RR, Banff SR, Nationals RR) it's not the right time to drink beer while waiting for the weather to clear. Just as much as the big hill in the middle of the race, this time is a decider of who wants it and who doesn't have the heart...

Race Report Season

I should really be preparing for my presentation on Wednesday, but I'm getting behind on my race reports.

Last weekend was the Speed Theory-hosted Incredibilus Velocitus 40km ITT (held in Acme, Alberta, hence the cool road-runner-esque name). The weather was...challenging. However after a bike-fitting "party" (a cyclist's party involves two, or maybe if things get really crazy, three, beers) I was pretty pumped to try my new lower aero-bar setup. And my sunnies deflected most of the hail. I managed a respectable 4th, getting beat by ERTC boys Blaine and Geoff, and throughly schooled by Gideon. I should mention that I edged Trev out by 1.8 seconds (I suspect he's getting laid too often these days), but we both managed to squeak under the 1 hour mark.

Today's race was the presitigious Pigeon Lake RR. 300+ racers, and about 45 in cat 1/2. Absolutely stunning weather for riding. The flat-to-rolly circuit, no wind, and long distance (160km) resulted in a fairly moderate pace...I don't think anyone was dropped! After much surging in the first lap, a break of three was allowed to go, but didn't stay away long. Trev attacked on lap two, I attacked as soon as he was brought back, then he attacked when I got brought back. The two other guys in his break represented ERTC and Top Gear, teams who's riders made up maybe half of the peleton? They didn't waste the opportunity, and in a short while were out of sight. However after 80km the other teams in the peleton organized a solid pace line and pulled them back.

The finish straight is a deceptively long uphill climb for about 1.5km. Every year, in almost category, there are poor fools who try their luck as soon as the pack turns the corner. This year in my cat, I was that fool. I got a decent gap, and it might have even stuck, had Dallas not been leading a Top Gear leadout freight train and I was reeled in with 500m to go...I recovered enough by 200m to pass some guys and salvage 10th spot.

Spring time

I was out riding on the bike path on Sunday evening and saw quite a few goslings being herded across the path by hissing parents.


So I went out Tuesday evening, and riding around Princes Island park, it didn't take long to find a whole gaggle of goslings.


It had only been two days, but it's easy to see how quickly they grow.


.


It was pretty cool to finally get some shots of them...after riding along the path to work in the spring of 2007 (my first full spring in Calgary) I've been meaning to get out the bazooka lens in the spring and go shoot some fowl. I haven't seen any ducklings yet...I wonder if their breeding season is a little later?

Lack of Velocity in Edmonton

Been getting a couple of questions about last weekend's big event, being the first ABA race of the year, the Velocity stage race.

I spent the weekend prior putting the (painful) finishing touches on my winter of training, then participated in a mental-beatdown of a course in Edmonton, which ran from 8:20am to 9pm or later, every day, returning to my room to do my taxes and get in short spins. Avoided checking email and answering calls all week.

You can probably see where this is going...I got to Friday, shelved the programming mind-benders, and switched to thinking about racing. Only, the registration was only open Monday to Thurday. Saturday morning, the ABA officials were relatively unsympathetic, and I wasn't in the mental mindset to argue it.

I actually enjoyed having the opportunity to help my team mates over the course of the weekend. God knows many of them, or others, have helped me in moments of last-minute pre-race panic. I lent my rental wheels to team mates, fetched water, stood in the feed zone...all good things for giving back.

Was I mad about missing the race? Hell yes: this was one of 4 big races for me this year. Mad at the officials? Yes and no...this wasn't the first time I've been disorganized (although it may be the best excuse I've had). Also, it's hard work organizing a race, and some people were sincerely sorry to shut me down - others were complete jerks, but whatever...what goes around, comes around.

On to the next one...

---

A quick recap of the action: H&R Block rider Chris McNiel tore up the time trial in cat 1/2, a shade off a 50km/h average for the 10km. For Speed Theory, Thomas made the podium in cat 3, while up-and-coming cat 5 racer Mark J and women's powerhouse Marilyn both got 4th.

In the crit Mark MacDonald edged out Dan Wood in a awesome sprint finish, but Trev had a stand-out performance, trading pulls at the front all race and finishing with the pack. In the women, two Bici riders asserted their dominance, but there was a great showing by the big Speed Theory contingent, with those doing their first ever crit having solid races, and Tanya clinching the field sprint.

The road race didn't have too much out of the ordinary happen. Welchie crashed again. Big breakaways in many fields. The only things that got me pumped were strong showings by all the Speed Theory women, Harley's solid sprint finish, and Trev's 1.5 lap pull to catch the pack followed by an attack and bridge to the breakaway...awesome! He subsequently dropped out of the race and turned down a beer, but I think that was just to make us think he's also mortal. Unlikely.

Insert video of baby nieces walking here

Insert video of nieces walking here (hint hint)

Prairie-Roubaix race report

I was thinking of calling this post "Would I be finished yet if I didn't have team mates?"... ;)

From my point of view, the A race went something like this: moderate pace for first of five laps, but 4 guys attacked and were a minute or two up the road. Then when the peleton (main pack) got to the gravel section the pace went ballistic. I didn't quite hang on to the lead group of 15, but right after the gravel Trev luckily paced me up to the lead 15, while the other 20 guys in the race strung out behind in some fashion - to be honest I never looked back, because turning my head took energy I didn't have to spare.

Half way through the second lap I attacked and tried to bridge up to the breakaway 4, but only made it three quarters of the way before the course turned into the wind. I foolishly/fruitlessly kept working to bridge, and got caught by the pack just as we hit the gravel. They went hammering by. I then time-trialed by myself in the wind for a lap before getting caught by a chase group containing team-mates Simon and Trev. Trev basically stopped on the start-finish hill so I could catch up (but apparently not hearing Jared's calls to wait a sec :) ), and again, he was a monster, this time for a whole lap, and left Simon and I just a couple hundred metres to make it to the next group. Simon then ground out some crazy pulls and we caught the next group, but in doing so Simon and Trev were popped.

By this point there were really only 5 guys, chasing the lead four who were way up the road. My group of five consisted of me, Scott from Rundle Mt Cycling Club, and three guys from the Bow Cycle team. Those three guys work us over pretty perfectly and cinched 5th and 6th, leaving me in 8th. Dallas, I hear, rode the entire friggen race solo and won, and Mark McDonald, Bunnin and Dan Wood worked together until the gravel descent into the finish.

Cycle to This House Of Sky

This is a great time of year for outdoor types in my area. I can cycle outside in shorts and jersey, or I can head into the mountains to ski or ice climb. On Thursday evening, I had the brilliant idea that I should combine both in to a multi-sport adventure. I worked on Easter Friday, my birthday day, so I considered this to be belated birthday present to myself, or more correctly, exercising my right as "birthday boy" to do whatever crazy thing I wanted to.

Depending on which circle of my friends you belong, the plan doesn't sound too crazy at first...cycle 90km to the Ghost River Wilderness Area, walk to the classic ice climb This House Of Sky and climb it, then go home.

The reality of the situation is somewhat tougher: the cycle would be 180km round-trip, 30km of which would be effectively logging road, and another 20km is not normally driven on without a high-clearance vehicle. The prevailing westerly wind kicks in early to mid-morning, and while riding into that, I would be carrying ice climbing boots, axes, crampons, gloves, and enough food to see me through the day. Plus a headlamp. :)

The night before, I had concerns about the viability. Doing the math, a realistic 25km/h cycle, plus what is normally a 4 hour climb, plus hiking a half-marathon, and a couple of hours for stopping to eat/change clothes, etc, plus a date that night at 7 or 8pm, did not give me time for 8 hours of sleep. I decided that I would have to average 30km/h, not stop, solo the climb quickly, and hope that I could cycle the hike. Thus reassured (that's my strange way of spelling "deluded"), I set my alarm for 7:30am.


8:45am - leaving the house, 45min behind schedule

My back was in pain after about 500 metres. Note to self: buy panniers. The wind was already starting to pick up. No problem, I'd just ride harder.


10:50am - arriving in Cochrane, about the same time as 15 knot winds. Two hours behind schedule. I realized my schedule was out the window.

From Cochrane I had a slog into the wind for 20km, until the turn north onto Hwy 40. The trees and hills along the road started helping, so I was able to make it to Waipourous by 12:30 and stop for lunch. I'd told people I'd be back early evening, and not to worry unless I hadn't contacted them by 9pm... Okay, great, that gives me 8.5 hours to get back, so an hour to get to the Ghost, an hour to get to the climb, two hours for the climb, two hours back to this point, and 2 hours to do what had taken me 4 hours thus far (I'd have a tail-wind, right?). Yikes, that's starting to sound tight, I'd better start cycling again.

Just a few km after Waipourous, the road turns to gravel. No problem. Then at the turn-off to access the Ghost River, it is...well, a bad gravel road. I remember it being uncomfortable last time (I was on a cross bike sans backpack...). Let's just say it deteriorated from there...


I'm sure there is a road here somewhere.

The driver of the pickup in the photo offered me a ride. I declined, because, as I told him, I'd got myself into this situation "somewhat intentionally".

500 metres later


As I started changing my flat, I saw that I had three spare tubes (how responsible of me) but only two CO2 cartridges (doh!).

After the break, I didn't need a speedometer (which is good, because I didn't have one) to know that my progress was slipping into single digits. So a few kilometres later when I was offered a lift, this time with climbers going into the Ghost, I took it. 10km is 15 minutes! Just 5km to the climb! By this time I'd stopping doing the math on my schedule...I'd made it this far with that damn bag, I was putting those boots on and sinking an axe into ice, regardless of the improbability of making it back on time!

Since the flat, I'd been cycling out of the seat a lot, to reduce the weight on the back wheel and so hopefully reduce the need to use my last CO2 cartridge. Let's just say I was getting a good full-body workout.


Not your normal road bike terrain

..

I was able to cycle a good chunk of the rest of the way, and finally I made it to the climb. By this time I was feeling pooped. Like, really really pooped. But at the same time, I love this climb and was pretty excited to climb it again. It's mellow and "stepped-out" enough that I wasn't worried about soloing it, but by the second pitch I had to put my sandwich away and use two axes. :)

Made it!

This photo is the proof. For anyone that has climb THOS, you'll know that you can only see this once you finish the last pitch. The WI4 and last pitch of WI3 is way back there, and I thought I'd toss my axe in the photo for good measure.

Ok, so I "made it", but at the same time, I was at the 21km mark of a marathon. I didn't bring a rope, so I had to downclimb the 12 or so pitches of the ice climb, which is decidely harder than going up. The hardest part is actually starting to downclimb a pitch...sort of requires you pretend the top is a horizontal ladder, and you step backwards and then down the face, hanging your butt out so you can see where your feet are going while your top half is still on the horizontal. Fortunately it requires a lot less energy, so I felt really good at the bottom.

This photo is one of the creek crossings I had to do. Sometimes there were logs I could walk across, and on occasion I wheeled my bike beside the log for balance. This time, I went bare-foot. Yes, that's snow beside the creek. At least I had a half of a tea-towel specially for drying my numb feet on the other side! :)

The ride out went fairly quickly, with the strong tailwind blowing through the Ghost valley, and once I *cycled up the Big Hill on my road bike* (It's about 200 metres, 15% and loose gravel - I'm thinking of putting that on a t-shirt) the ride out was mostly downhill. Unfortunately by the time I got to Waipourous, the wind had all but died, so I didn't do the 50km/h I was hoping for.

After I got cell reception as I got close to Cochrane, the tone of my date, all dressed up with nowhere to go, convinced me that calling for a ride was required (thanks David!), and I skipped out on the last 30km. Still, not a bad day's work!

I'm back. In one piece

Just got back. It's...9:30pm, so a tad later than planned. Now I'm going to go shower and try to eat 10,000 calories. Then collapse.

Plan for tomorrow

With the silly things I tend to get up to, and having no desire to end up like Aron Ralston, it's about time I tell people where I'm going. So here's the plan: ride to the Big Hill in the Ghost (well, I guess technically it's Don Getty PP), ride/hike from there to This House Of Sky, solo that, potentially all the way to the ridge if the WI4 at the back is solid, then doing it all in reverse. I figure someone will read my post in the next week, so if you haven't heard from me in the meantime, perhaps ask around... :)

Here's the map (I only have a rough idea where THOS is on a satellite map):

A recipe that worked!

I sauted 3 cloves of garlic, and an onion. Then I browned a pound of ground beef and added that. Drained and added a large (540mL) can of lima beans. Then threw in a couple of pinches of salt, two tablespoons of paprika, some cayenne pepper, chilli pepper, and black pepper. Added a cup of pasta sauce and one pound of baby carrots. Simmered for half an hour.

Served it with couscous and broccoli.

Nutrition-wise, it contained a ton of protein (100g from beef, 20g from beans, and 24g from the couscous) and carb (180g from the couscous, 50g from the beans) and is enough to feed two hungry cyclists.

A good way to fuel up for tomorrow's adventure!

Ronde van Cowtown

Elevation profile of an in-town ride!


Google maps ride route, and just in case the map disappears, here's a png:

Two for two!

Had another great race, even after a night of fashion, breaking b-boys, rapping and funk. It was another intra-club race, this time two loops of the Prairie-Roubaix course. I'd write a report, but Trev already put up a hilarious post on the ST blog. Again, Trev handicapped himself, this time by towing a combine harvester for a couple of hundred metres each lap (show off! ;) ), and he still managed to pull alongside me before the final descent to the finish.

Calgary is awesome

I'm impressed that someone got the domain name calgaryisawesome.com...definitely catchier than calgaryishohum.com. But taking a look through all the recent posts, wow, I think Calgary DOES have it going on! Sometimes it's just hard to find out about these things, unless you're in The (appropriate sub-) Scene, be it dance, music, theatre, fashion, comedy, etc etc. For instance, I always seem to randomly find out that High Performance Rodeo is on, making me think I'll completely miss it one of these years.

Anyway, check out the blog.

calgaryisawesome.com

Cycling training articles

Found some interesting cycling training articles. Tim, I think you'll agree with much of them, particularly the "anti-machine, pro-free-weights" one! :) Even a couple on sports psychology in there.

Peaks Coaching Group articles

One for one

So I might as well take this fleeting opportunity to boast about my current win to races entered ratio...one for one!

The Speed Theory cycling team, being the team-focused, energized, generally awesome team that it is, hosted a little club race, a 20km TT, last Saturday. We scored some wicked weather (I'd say "lucked-out" if I had a purely Canadian audience, but the alternative translation of said phrase being the exact opposite, I'll resist), and had a solid turnout of 23. We did a couple of laps as a group to get familiar with the course. Basic directions are "turn right at every intersection, not including driveways" (since the 15,000 sq ft houses in the area have significant driveways). Rolly, twisty, gravelly, with the odd horse and even a horse-drawn carriage...I think the term is "technical".

Description of the race itself: I pedalled really hard for 20km.

Admittedly, I was on a TT bike while other, stronger guys rocked their road bikes (you know who you are (<cough> Trev)), but still, gotta celebrate the small victories! :)

http://speedtheorycyclingteam.blogspot.com/2010/03/club-rave-20-km-tt-results.html

Battle Abbey

It's been far too long since my trip to Battle Abbey to still not have a post about it. I'm reconsidering my approach to this, and I'm using the reasoning that Rome wasn't built in a day... Not that this post should be compared to Rome.

An interesting prelude to the trip was finding someone to come along. And then when someone did decide to come, not buying their flight until 90 minutes before the flight left Toronto! Nigel, you are setting a bad precedent for procrastinators everywhere! :)

Nigel made it to Calgary, and so Sat morning we drove to meet the chopper in Golden, BC, and fly 150 km south from, well, anything, into the mountains to the hut, with 10 (12?) other skiers, 3 guides and one and a half chefs (two chopper trips) (the second chef was in training, and had recently broken both ankles). Pretty wicked flight - I remember thinking about 30 seconds in that it would take at least 4 hours to cover that ground on skis. Then for the rest of the week, we were skiing from the hut. We had to skin up every bit that we skied down...multiple 1,500foot (about as long at top-to-bottom Mt Buller or maybe half of Lake Louise) runs of untouched powder (we were the first group of the year), racking up something around 32,000 feet of elevation gain for the week. Exhausting but great.

In the mayhem of finding a new abode in the week before the trip, and moving into said abode two days before leaving, I neglected to bring a battery charger for my camera...or a charged battery. I got 6 photos I think, before it died. Moot point though, since I can't find my card reader. Until I find a few select pics to post, here is the group's combined haul:

http://picasaweb.google.com/battleabbey2010/