Stampede Race

I was originally not going to race Stampede this year as this race is a Masters race with no points being offered..instead spend time with Marn and Seth.

But the week out, found out Cat 1,2,3 all race together. I did accomplish my goal and recieved the upgrade to cat 3 after the Banff races. So I thought why not, will be great experience racing with Cat 1,2 as my first race as a Cat 3.

Just as exciting was racing with Steve and Keith for the first time...instead of just pushing eachother around Banff roads all the time for giggles and frothing at the mouth..all sportng the RMMC gear as well.

Did not know what to expect with the pace and with my legs, would be only the 4th time all year riding 120 km's.

Pace was quite mellow first few laps with some bursts up the hills. I sure love this course, 5 laps on a wind affected hilly loop.

2 guys were off on lap 2 or 3, then steve and another steve simply "rolled away" at the top of a hill. I was sititng 8th or so and thought no biggy. But their gap gained distance with nobody doing anything about it.

This is where tactics came in, and with my lack of road knowledge I had no idea what was playing out. I pulled to the front to step up the pace to catch Steve and got "talked" to by a rider saying "I have a team mate up there and what was I doing"? There were 4 guys now out there, all different teams. As it turned out, the race was over for the rest of us...lame.

So 12 or so of us continued our own race. ST drove the pace after the 90 degree turn into cross wind on the 4th lap. He put in a few more attacks weeding out several people. I shit the bed being positioned behind the lead guy down and up a hill (lesson learnt in positioning)..shit as the train flew by us on the right side...sprint sprint to catch them..catch breath...wait another attack...sprint sprint.
With these efforts Zack and I came 20 feet off the back. We said to eachother "come on - 4 secs pulls to catch back up". Mad pulls by each of us brought us to 40 feet of them...nooo.....did not catch them before head wind section. 2 minutes into head wind section and Zack was done. By myself now, no problem, go hard by myself.

It was hard as I came through the feed zone at the end of lap 4 and saw multiple people in our race standing there now. I do understand their job was to push the pace to shed people (mission accomplished with me being dropped from group), but I don't understand howso many people DNF in road racing. I guess it is better to have a DNF place than a 20th ??

As I road by them by myself, it actually gave me more inspiration to go hard as possible in the final lap....that ended up being suffering at its finest. Plus I needed the km's for next week's 24 hrs race.

I ended up 11th, Keith 10th...congrats Steve on 4th place, well 3rd place after the guys DQ.

Looking back after, Keith and I said we should have said screw tactics and rode and caught up with Steve. Who knows what would have happended then?

Again, chalk it up as more lessons learnt on the road.

I was reading Dallas Morris' blog, he put a photo of the wheels he used which helped him win this race...mmmm I was thinking to have that gear.
I am happy with my results as I am riding a 9 year old Cannondale.

Colin did call me last week to inform me his boss has a $8,000 Time bike for $2,500 to me...used 4 times. Similar to Colin's deal he received from his boss' friend 2 months ago, a $10,000 bike for $3,000(used 3 times). These ridiculously wealthy guys buy these bikes and within a month they require next years model...good for average folk like me.
So I have a week to decide this purchase, 2 months mortgage or bike...but this is to good to pass up.

Marnie and I road the Canmore Nordic Center twice this week to scope the 24 hours course.

They have changed the course this year and added a tonne more single track - compared to last years fire road course,...and have added the Coal Chutes!!! Can't believe they are throwing that in...people are seriously going to get hurt there, daytime let alone at night.
But this new course is great for us locals as prime opportunity to gain time on competitors in the single track.

Can't wait to race on the mountain bike again, been a while!!!

I started my 1 month of Paternity Leave July 16th...what a beauty bluebird week it has been!!

Hope to have Seth with us on the podium!

kvellestad quick visit

Alida, Bruce, Connor and Coleman stopped by a few weeks ago for a few hours on their way home from mom and dads.

Beautiful afternoon spent on our deck in the sunshine.

Have not seen them for a few months so was great to see them. The boys are growing so quickly...Coleman especially. He just loved playing in the sandbox. Love the nicknames Alida has for him - little terror. Connor is so cute as ever..giving Seth the ball.

Was great to see everyone :)

Summer time and the living is easy

Headed to Jack and Christies cottage at little bow july 1st weekend.
Marn, Seth and Chrisite headed out Friday afternoon, with Jack and I leaving Sunday night...leaving me a bachelor for 2 days!!.

I took full advantage. Off work at 3:00 on Saturday headed west on the 1A hoping to do lake louise and back, felt good so proceeded to Moraine Lake. 149 km's all up with 4.75 ish riding time. Longest ride of the year, not bad for after work.

3 days of daytime boozing and eating at its finest. Funny how down there one does not feel guilty having a beer at noon. Great training for biking, carb up.

Love escaping to Little Bow, so beautiful down there with cooking weather. Seth loved the water.

Banff Bike Fest

This past weekend brought my first stage race in hometown Banff.

On the Storm Hill climb, I did what I said I did not want to do...start to quick. 3 minutes in I was saying shit while huffing and searching for more air and trying to clear out the acid in my legs. Finished 5th, but 2 secs off 4th and 3 secs off 3rd :( Note to self, don't start too quick. Chalk it up as all part of the lessons learnt in each race.

Friday's race on the 1A was my highlight. Being paired up with the Cat 2/3 group, I was unsure how to play out the race..do I bother chasing breaks when they could very well be cat 2/3 and burn out? Robbie said to hold off unless it was a group of 10 or so. Did not have to worry as the 45 odd person pack rode together to the turn around and went up the 7 odd mins climb up the split road. At the top of these climbs I noticed how many riders were somewhat suffering and I felt well. 2 odd km's left and the pace picked up, I knew we had a good kicker to end the race and hung in around 10th spot. The boys who took off were now slowing coming up the last km hill. Up the first bump and the sprint was on up the hill finish. I really wanted to stay ahead of the 3 Cat 4 riders I knew, got out of saddle and gave er...ended up taking aaron schooler at the line for 2nd overall!! 1st in cat 4 as well.
I am stoked to beat out the 24 odd cat 2/3 riders to the hill finish...great to take the race on my home road. :) pays off living in the mtns and training on the hills.

Saturday brought my first ever T.T. Did not want to start too quick and burn out. Overall I was happy with my results...legs were a tad soar from Friday. 6th place 7 secs off 5th and 9 secs off 4th. James Jenzen is a machine in the T.T...hope I am that strong when I am his age. Loved being in the TT position, envious of the all boys with their multiple thousand dollar TT bikes...hanging in there with my 6 year old cannondale.

Saturday night's Crit was my first crack at a crit as well. Plan was just to not crash and get a groove on as the race proceeded. Stayed in top 4 or so feeling well and focusing on avoiding the 6 odd spills that occured right in front of me.
Last lap, behind Thomas down Bear St when Kevin came by us. Into last corner and not sure what happended as it occured so quickly...ended up in the bus lane and came back to out sprint Thomas just shy of Kevin - good job Kevin :)
I definitely lost this race as I envisoned the days before being in 3rd going in straightaway and sprinting for 1st....but came around last corner waaaay to wide and Kevin was all of a sudden too far.
Shoulda coulda woulda's definitely, but was happy with a 2nd place and in general where I was positoned the whole race....and no crashes for my first ever Crit. Again learning experience every race.

Don't dwell on mistakes, learn from them.

Full results are not out from ABA, but should have enough points to move up to Cat 3 now.

Pocketed $350 as well, help pay for diapers :)

Would have loved to have Seth on the podium with me. He is toooo cute in these photos though!!

Overall a great weekend. Huge exposure for Banff, I strongly believe this can turn into Canada's top road race someday.

Props to Steve, Scott, Darren and Keith who rode well in the invite race..good job boys.

Last few weeks

Unreal that it is mid June already....slow down please summer
Have had a fun last few weeks, going back to Pigeon Lake Race.
Did not have huge expectations with a 120 km race as the only time I have ridden that distance this year was mid April.
With 45 guys in the pack, I made sure to stay top 10 through the race to avoid any crashes etc.
I am 100% still learning road tactics and being patient through out...as I messed up a few races last year getting to excited and chasing when not needed...and burning out.
A few teams of 5 or 6 guys watching them take turns sending guys out looking for rookies like me to chase them and burn out. patience my friend.
Fun course with 4 laps which included a head wind, 2 cross wind sections and a tail wind. I was happy how I placed myself in these sections, especially the cross winds.
Couple guys took off just before the tail wind section and decided to join them. 4 or 5 of us began a small gap as we were cruising with the tail wind and all....not the best communication between us resulted in our gap falling apart. Thats okay...3 guys again take off on final cross wind section, catch them as the loop ended. James takes off and the pace picks up. catch him heading into final corner before the 1.5 km finish.
Thinking I am in great position -4th - sitting on the center line with the cross winds...no... all of a sudden 5 guys come bombing bye us and I realize I am boxed in on the center line. By the time the 4 of us break up the 5 guys are 50 -100 m ahead. Sprint as hard as possible with 3 of us finishing within an inch of eachother - I was the loser of this placing in 8th.
Overall happy with my patience through the race, right postioning and more lessons learnt for next race. Don't dwell on mistakes, learn from them.
Next few weeks brought the usual 2 odd hours a week consisting of intervals on the trainer maximizing time. Love this one 10 secs Hard 20 secs Mid...for 10 minutes....burn burn!!
Last Thursday was a beauty Hammer Night with the Canmore boys. 75 odd kms - 2.5 hrs of goodness for the legs - hills and hills.
Friday off
Saturday on the 1A with Keith to re con Storm HC. 2 laps up that sessing it out...going to be a killer 17 odd minutes.
Sunday was on the trainer again
10 mins S.S 5 min cool 10 mins S.S 5 mins cool 1 mins hard 1 mins cool x 5 5 min cool repeat again
nice to do longer (10mins) just below LT followed by 1 min at or above LT
A couple walks in the afternoon up and down the hill to home...felt the legs pushing Seth up.
Overall great to ride 3 of 4 days to prep for the Banff race in 2 days
Had an invite on Saturday to join the RMCC team for the invite race. After thinking it over for a day I decided to stay in Cat 4 and try to gain points for upgrades. Being that I am only racing a few times this year, to give up 4 opportunities for points is too much to give up. The invite race would be a great opportunity to race with that caliber...the legs would not be there especially by Sunday's race though.
If it was last summer or next summer I am sure I would have accepted. But with the circumstances I need to take advantage of 4 stages and will still have a riot racing in Cat 4
Can't wait to suffer on Storm. Racing on home turf -1A road - will be so much fun. My first TT nad crit should be entertaining as well.
:)

Little Seth now 6 months old

Well, our little baby boy is growing up quickly. 6.5 months old already, where does the time go?
Have been feeding him solid foods now for a few weeks - yams, avocados, green peas, black beans and rice cereal / apple sauce. He just chows down whatever we give him.
This last week he has been sitting up on his own for minutes on hand...too cute!! We had his 6 month doctors appointment this week, 16 lbs now. Doc says he is very strong for his age...must be his parent's genes :)

Little Update

The weather sure has been all over the place the last few weeks....currently looking outside and snowing.
Going back, was on my road bike outside for the 3rd time 2 Sundays ago. I make the most out of every ride and have as much fun as possible as the times out are limited. Rode around backside Tunnel Rd to Minnewanka Loop. Couple laps in multiple directions with two trips down to Johnston Lake...I LOVE the new pavement!!Back around Tunnel Rd to end, all up just shy of 3 hours of pounding hills.

Next day on the mountain bike with Marnie for the first ride of the year. Great times on Race Loop, Marnie's grin was enormous as she was so fired up to be on the bike again...me too :)
So after 3hrs on Sunday and Race Loop Monday, the legs were a tad soar as the miles just have not been there this year.

That evening Keith calls me to inform me that the first toonie race is the next day up Spray Road in Canmore. 20 odd minute suffer up Spray Road after the last few days..sign me up. The starting pace was attrocious - thanx Gary. The legs felt like concrete but had fun either way...2.5 minutes back of Scott...slower than I thought but all good.

2 days later Keith and I were excited to join the boys for Hammernight in Canmore....rain and snow that afternoon dashed those hopes...so we thought. Weather cleared a bit so we decided to head out toTunnel and Minnewanka...then saw 10 soaked boys riding - the madmen actually left canmore in torrential rain and plus 5 degress and headed to Banff. We joined them for a Tunnel Rd session including backside road. Good times were had, keith put the pace up pronto going by rocky resort. Fun to be out with the crew and hope to head out again this Thursday with them.

My "less is more plan" is doing well. Biking to work up the 10 mins hill all winter is starting to show benefits as I feel great up the hills on the outside rides I have been on.

This plan was part of my hope of being on RMCC's team for the invite Banff race. I found out last night that ABA will not upgrade a Cat 4 rider for the race - being me (only a Cat 3 can be upgraded -fair enough). Too bad, I started in Cat 5 last year and moved up after 2 races. With a child now, I obviously have other priorities and have not raced at all this year, hence no chance of moving up to Cat 3. I do hope to race Pigeon Lake though, so excited about that. And did enter Banff race for Cat 4....can't wait for the Storm HC!!

Loving this interval the last 2 months.
Pick a pace for a 3 mins hard climb
1 mins Steady State - just below LT
20 secs Hard out of saddle
2 minutes in saddle back at same pace of first minute
5 minute recovery
repeat 3 more times
8 minutes recovery
REPEAT 4 more intervals

Great for building power to attack on a climb, with the ability after to hold that pace to extend the gap.

Have fun out there!!