---Ryan's Space--

Oh, hello there Boler Mountain. How have you been? I've been well thanks.

Going into the race, I had a goal of a top ten finish, and a plan of starting at a more reasonable pace.

I was happy to hear than Mr. IHaveWonEveryRace was not at the start line for our little sport race. I did not rush to the start line, and I did not line up in the first or second row. It's a three lap race, and there is lots of time to pick off riders later in the race.

The opening climb did not go too long, and my legs felt fine. I felt out the course on the first lap. It was a very nice course. Some nice twisty sections, a couple short and steep climbs, and some longer flat sections. Before the end of the lap, I moved around a few riders, and continued on at a reasonable pace. There were just a few spots that were kina tricky, but nothing unrideable.

On the second lap, I found myself in some good company, and it motivated me to push hard. I took the lead of a small group, and tore up some singletrack. But, I again needed to remind myself that it was a three lap race. I was riding at a pace that was slightly above sustainable, so I backed off the throttle just a tad.

Third lap was good too. I never really found myself alone much during the race, which adds a nice "race" feel. Nearing the end, I reeled in a rider, but was passed by another. I tried to hold his wheel, but I could not. So, I let him go, and just focused on staying ahead of whoever was behind me. We fought it out a little, but I was able to stay ahead, and cross the line in 7th position.

Mission accomplished.

My sister recently discovered geocaching, and is really excited about it. Her and my parents found a few today, while I was out racing my mountain bike. When I came back, we went out and hunted down another one. Apparently there are hundreds of thousands of 'em kicking around, and many in our area, some in very easily accessible locations.

For those of you who don't know what geocaching is...

Official Site
Wikipedia

Check gallery for images in a minute.

Good morning sunshine... wait... the sun is not up yet. Why is my alarm ringing? Oh, yeah, another one of those bike race thingies, at uh, Hardwood Hills. I love hardwood, sweet.

Took a quick scoot over to Fenwick to meet zedfoto. The fabulous concept that is carpooling allowed me to close my eyes just a little bit more. The thermometer on the dash said temperatures were around 3 or 4 degrees, with a nice wind. How "refreshing." (That one is for you mtbmeister )

I busted out the tights, long sleeves, cycling cap, and full finger gloves, and went for a casual warm-up. Headed to the start line.

When it was time to take off, somebody in front of me had a lot of trouble clipping in. No way around that for me, and I had to work really hard to try to stay close to the front. I wanted to start hard, and aim for a top 10. Very quickly, my quads let me know that they did not think that was a very good idea. Shame. Those guys are so fast. A couple might be in expert soon. Anyway, that first climb was killer, but I got up it, and carried on.

After just a couple position changes, I held my place behind a rather talented rider for a little while. That was really handy, as this was a very hard course to go out and race blind, without a pre-ride. Things like massive boulders, and rooty switchbacks can catch you off guard if you don't know what is coming. This rider was pushing me hard through the technical singletrack, and for a while, we were pretty even in climbing abilities. Made a small mistake, but pushed hard to catch up again. Not sure what happened, but somewhere (midway?) trough the race, he got away. Lost a few more positions after that. A couple juniors, and a master or two got by me as well.

On the third lap, I ran into many of the slower riders from the 9:30 start. Thankfully, I had no opponents nearby ahead of or behind me, so if I had to wait an extra second or two to pass, it was not a big deal. For the most part, passing went fine, as riders were cool, and there were many open sections.

The course was really challenging, and I loved it. The hills (first one especially) really laid the smack down on me. Lots of grunting, and heavy breathing to go along with the peddle mashing. The singletrack did its best to work me over as well. Choose your line wisely. Don't brake too much, you'll just have to work that much harder to get up to speed again. Careful! Don't go OTB. Go ahead, catch some air. Sick, or should I say, "radical." I managed to escape without crashing, but did have to dab a few times. I really like the style of trail that Hardwood Hills had to offer today.

So yeah, that's that. Stuck around for just a bit to watch some riders tackle the "boneshaker," and then we were off. Stopped at Timmies on the way home, and got meself an iced coffee and plain doughnut. Since we raced so early, we got home earlier than usual too. It's a trade off I guess.

Seriously, I had an awesome time. All the commuting miles I put in since Mansfield definitely did me some good. I started hard. My mind kept telling me to slow down, but I could not do it. I figured I'd pay for it later.

The first sections of singletrack, I did not find myself riding super efficiently, but I did not crash, or make any notable mistakes. Things were super dry, but after watching the earlier racers with their muddy bikes, I knew fun stuff was ahead.

And oh boy, similar to Mansfield, I witnessed the worst mud I've seen at Albion. I tried to ride everything, and I was able to keep pedaling through many sections that I did not think I would clear. Did I mention I love knobby tires? Woo hoo. There were slimy climbs, sketchy downhills, big puddles, and and all kinds of stuff to add to the dry sections.

I got through the first lap pretty quickly, and was having fun. I felt like I was actually racing, as opposed to just surviving like I was at Mansfield. Did I mention I like racing? After a while, I noticed I was going back and forth with some of the same riders. I'd put big time into some opponents in the mud, and then they would proceed to crush me on the climbs. Back and forth, back and forth. In the end though, I came out ahead of a number of riders I was swapping positions with.

My legs felt pretty strong (considering what I was expecting) right to the end of the race. I crossed the line with a fair sized gaps ahead and behind me.

I had a blast, and was really happy with how things went. I did not lose a shoe, and my bike once again put up with my abuse well. Other highlights include getting a shower courtesy of the rider in front of me when passing through the big puddle near the end of the lap.

When I checked the results, I could not believe what I saw. I improved my Mansfield result by about 14 positions, and slid into 12th in Sr. Sport iirc.

The quarter pounder at McDonalds after the race went down nice and easy as well.

All in all, another fun day at the races.

Oh, hello there.

Other than the fact that I did not go very fast, my race went very well. Having run out of steam too early in both the ToP and P2A, I knew that I needed to pace myself.

Like zed, i bundled up pretty good for the race. It was pretty cold, and wet. It actually did not really rain for our 11:30 race, but the trails were wet.

Up the first climb, dang, those guys really are quick. That's ok. I just let 'em go, and stuck to my plan. It felt great to be back out on my mountain bike, shredding some trails. To my surprise, my technical skills did not seem too rusty. My knobby tires were hooking up nicely, and I had confidence. Of course, I had to push the tires a little beyond their abilities, just to test 'em out. I picked a nice slippery downhill to wipe out on, but I bounced up quickly, without losing my position.

First lap, I felt out the course. It was nice. Challenging, but not too challenging.

It did not take long for the previous starts to catch up to me though, at the pace I was setting. I think Photograph witnessed that. Yup, I'd get passed by younger guys, older guys, and after a while, even a few ladies. Whatever, fine. I let 'em go, and stuck to a pace I thought I could maintain. Things played out nicely, as I was able to keep my lap times rather close.

I got to the end, without much punch left in my legs, but there was no total collapse.

Mission. Accomplished. No injuries, no DNF, no total collapse. My Nice Reliable Steed performed well once again. I had fun. My result was not particularly impressive, but that was expected.

Mother nature really did play a cruel joke on us though. Nothing but blue skies and sunshine greeted me as I returned home. Got the bike all washed up, and it's ready for another adventure on the trails.

1.  I like finding out that I will be getting a nice tax return.

2.  Exams.  I'm done 2 of 4.  Almost there.

3.  Music.  Lately I've added some new music.  Metric, Black Lungs, and Silversun Pickups have been getting a lot of play the last couple days.  Good stuff.

3.1.  My 8GB iPod no longer fits my entire music collection.  I need to start picking and choosing what goes on.  Oh well, so be it.

4.  Paris to Ancaster is a few days away.  I have not really done any intense riding at all this month, other than the Tour of Pelham.  That's pretty much why I am racing though.  Not to try and prove something, but rather I look at it as a training ride, so I can start getting back into better shape, for races later in the year.  I'm starting in the second wave, which should be fine.  I'll probably be trying to keep a relatively steady pace, rather than tearing it up, then burning out like I did at the Tour of Pelham.

ME

More pictures here.

One of the racers from the Tour of Pelham rode the race with a helmet cam on, and recorded some good footage of the race.  To check it out, go here:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=5557378&postcount=65

The video is about 17 minutes long.  If you wait for it to load, you can skip through parts of it, like the long climb at the beginning.  If you watch it all though, it gives you a pretty good sense of what the trail sections were like.  Most of the road sections were edited out, because let's face it, they are not as interesting to watch as poor souls parading through mud.

Disclaimer, this is not my footage, and I do not own it or take credit for it. 

The good:

The return of racing.
Catching up with friends.
My Rocky Mountain Solo CX
Warmups
Hydro Hill climbs
Slippery mud
Drafting

The bad:

Getting dropped by a strong group
Crashing on the road for no apparent reason. Too much red-line too soon?
Wheels...not...turning.

That sums things up pretty well. But, if you want more details, read on.

I did not go too crazy warming up, but I did enough to get warmed up. It was pretty cold, quite windy, and overcast. We got tons of rain in the 24h leading up to the race. I knew the mud would be wild.

So, after a little shuffling around, we line up way at the bottom of "Hydro Hill." And we're off. Right at the starting line, I said to JC, that I have no plan. How I feel will dictate how much I will push at the beginning, middle, and end of the race.

So, we were off. Legs felt fine going up the hill, and with the help of my 36-26 gearing, I got to the top pretty quickly. This was very beneficial, because we quickly headed into some muddy singletrack. It was slippery, and it took some effort to keep the bike upright, and pointed in the right direction.

When the first road section hit, I was able to catch and get into a group with ddakin and a few others. We were moving pretty quickly, but it was clear that several riders such as myself were not experienced in the art or road riding/racing. I really wanted to stay with these guys for as long as I could, because I knew they could really help me out.

But, I knew I could not maintain the pace, so it was only a matter of time before I started to slip away. I can't recall all the exact details of the race, but whatever. Basically, the group was slipping away. I don't know if I even lasted 30 minutes. And, my chances of hopping back on were shattered when I crashed for no apparent reason. I drifted a little off the road, and when I tried to correct that, my front wheel skid, and I went down. Um, oops. Only minor damage to me and the bike. Just skuffs and scrapes to both me and the bike. So, at that point, I collected myself, and settled into a slower pace.

After that, I worked with a few riders here and there, but nothing really stuck for too long. So, I mostly worried about just riding a pace I knew I was capable of, without letting off the gas too much. The hills overall were not too bad. Most of them were dips, which allowed you to use momentum to get a fair ways up the hill before you needed to grunt up the last little bit of each climb.

It was nice to have the wind at your back by the reservoir, but the trail that followed it was um, for lack of a better word, muddy. I was pushing the pedals, but there was so much resistance. This was due to the surface of the trail, as well as the massive amount of organic matter that was jammed between my frame and fork. I was pressing on, but riding with your organic mud brakes is pretty wearing both mentally and physically. Being familiar with the area, I knew I was close to the finish.

So, I dismounted. Pushing the bike was a drag, so that was out. But, the good news was that it is pretty easy to shoulder a cyclocross bike. Even with the 5lb of mud, I think it was still lighter than my NRS. So, I went for a little walk to wrap things up. There was nobody chasing, and a bit too much of a gap to catch the rider, er, walker in front of me. So, I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, and made it to the finish, where I remounted and took a few pedal strokes to cross the line.

As I crossed, I heard somebody say 32, so I am taking that as my unofficial finishing spot, which is just a few back from my 29th place last year, which I am pretty happy with. I think a few more out of towners made the trip down to St. Catharines this year. Some guys from Bike Sports, and Cycle Solutions came down to race. Finish time was a little under 1:30 by my watch. I never did actually check for any official results.

Hanging around at the line after the race was really not that pleasant. I was sweaty, and the wind was nasty. I was shivering a little as I waited for some buddies to finish. I gotta say, I liked the facilities and Pancakes a lot better than what we had this year. But, after hanging around a bit, me, ddakin, and a few others from the SCCC went to the nearby Tim Hortons. The soup helped to warm me up.

Anyway, I had fun, and it was an interesting day to spend racing. It was good to see so many people out. I heard there were over 150 riders registered, and many riders did very well for themselves. It was a good warmup for the Paris to Ancaster. Unfortunately, I won't get to do a ton of riding in before then, so I wanted to make sure to get in at least one good hard effort before then. It was also nice to see some familiar faces.

And, gosh, the cleanup took more time than the race itself did. Shortly after getting the hose out, I wanted to call zedfoto to come and clean and detail my bike. I still have to try to convince my mom to help me with the laundry.

Anyways, that's all for now.

I can haz one.  My plan A for summer employment has shown no signs of success.  I still have a slight bit of optimism, but, current indicators suggest that I will need a plan B.  The good news is that I do actually have a plan B, if needed.  We'll see how things turn out.

That's all for this super vague post.

First, I had to change the background for my little space here.  Due to the pictures being somewhat translucent, the image in the background was showing through and making the pictures look messed up.  This one is very simple.  I may change it, but I think it will work.  Feel free to share your opinions.

Next, my first bike race (outside of the "race" up hydro hill) is this weekend - The Tour of Pelham.  Am I excited?  Yes.  Am I ready?  Well, I have been getting out on my bike a bit this month, but the rides have been mostly pretty short, and the intensity has not been too high.  So, the legs feel a little flat, but I'm not too worried.  I should be at least as prepared as I was last year, and things turned out fine there. 

After this race, exams will be staring me in the face,....  Insert grievances here ________. 

That's all for now.  :-)

Commuting by bike that is.  Coasting down the escarpment on this nice sunny morning, I could not help but feel riding in is a much better way to start off the day then riding the bus.  It's ~10km, and the route to MAC is all downhill or pretty flat.  Not much effort required, and hence I can just wear street clothes comfortably.  Travel time is about the same, or a little less than taking the bus, once you consider walking to the bus stop, waiting for bus, and riding bus which makes many stops.

The ride back is a lot more work, as it involves climbing back up the escarpment.  This makes me work a little harder, and motivates me to have a change of clothes.  But, it is a good way to get in some exercise, and blow off steam at the end of the school day.  My Dinotte lights, and some reflective material make returning after dark not a big issue.  My backpack is usually quite heavy, with a laptop and a text book in it, among other things.  It's not the most comfortable thing to deal with, but oh well.  Time wise, going back is typically a little longer, but not by much.  I have to change, but I can leave right after that.  Usually after class, I have to wait 15-20 minutes for the bus to come.  On my bike, I can usually get a bit of a head start, but the bus passes me before I make it home.

I've rode to school about 8 times so far this spring, and I think I'll be doing it a handful more times before classes wrap up.

Well, spring exam schedules are available.  Won't go into specifics here, but the good news is, it shouldn't really interfere with any of the spring races I'd like to do. 

If all goes well, I should be able to do the Tour of Pelham, Paris to Ancaster, and O-Cup #1. 

Beyond that lies uncertainty.

So, I was in the library today, planning to get a little work done before catching a bus home.  But, I was a little hungry.  After recent renovations, Thode (the engineering library) now has a cafe.  I walk up, and look at the selection.  I see cookies, and they look tasty.  The price is not displayed.

I walk up to the employee, and ask:  "how much for a cookie?"  I listen to the answer, and then reply, "no thanks."

Over $1 for 1 cookie?  Sorry, I'm not THAT hungry.  Sure, food anywhere on campus is not cheap, but come on.

Why bother blogging about such a trivial matter you ask?  Well, you know, it's more fun then the homework I have lined up for the evening,.... which is calling my name....

Stop by for more blogging soon.

Ok, gotta go.


ttyl

So here I am, sitting in my room, solving for the rate of heat loss through a human arm at 12:50am while listening to Fleetwood Mac.  Can it get any better than this?

Thunder only happens when its raining....

Well, I had a pretty good reading week.  It started with the nice trip to Ottawa with my parents.  Pictures are already posted.  There was car rides, a nice hotel, ~20km of skating, ice sculptures, Beaver Tails, Roch Voisine, glow sticks, and more.  The rest of the week was filled with; some relaxing, slow but steady progress on school work, appointments, some hockey, and a silly, but enlightening cycling experience. 

Notes to self;

If you plan on doing some early season bike races, you will need to do more riding in the coming weeks/months, or else your body will throw (up) some sort of protest (which may resemble what you ate for breakfast.) Incorporate more riding into your schedule each week.  It does not have to be beat your *** into the ground training rides, but just get out there.  

And... don't slack off and procrastinate too much when it comes to school work.  There is no second reading week to use for catching up.  You have the time, find the motivation and focus required to use it effectively.  No, it's not easy, but you just need to HTFU* and do it. 

*Harden the F*** Up - a term frequently used in The Lounge on www.roadbikereview.com. 

perfect for nerdy mechanical engineering students like myself.

www.fantasticcontraption.com

here is one I made.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=5700462

People often express their dissatisfaction when it rains and snows and is cold, or windy, or whatever.

I would like to take a moment to say that I have been very satisfied with the weather the last couple days. I just could not let another one of these days slip by without throwing a leg over a bike. Today I got out for a VERY brief ride, but it was satisfying none the less. Fresh air, sunshine, and exercise is like chicken soup for the student's mind.

Shorts, and a short sleeve jersey in November!

I hope you all can take at least a little time to enjoy this, before it slips away