As my sweetheart is fixing my SRM in the basement tonight (I don't know what I would do with out him), I thought I would get a chance to reflect and write my race report on TDL.
First off I would like to thank the wonderful host housing we got from Loren (not sure on the spelling) and Kathy's home just outside of Leelanau. This was my first experience with host housing for a race and I bet it will be hard to beat the warmth coming from this family's home. Not to mention there dog and two cats. You two made my racing experience in Michigan one never to forget.
So Sunday's race for me was going to be tough. I was guest riding with Team Giant from Michigan and going up to the race with Derrick and his jet fuel teammates. Needless to say after going to watch Derricks' start which was 1h 40 minutes before mine and about 20 miles away, the host family dropped me off with an 1 and a bit to go for my start. I met the team, oh about 45 minutes before my start, quickly got a kit from them and changed and pinned my numbers on. I wish I had more time to gel with the team, but it was a bit of a rush for me and I was pretty nervous. The team was pretty organized and had already given tons of tips to me and knowledge of how the race had played out in the past. I even got a Sprint/QOM chart made in Km's to stick on my stem from them. Pretty thankful for that!
The race than began, 112k of rolling hills, some strong stacked pro team including Cheerwine, Colavita and Tibco making it an international field. We started as soon as the Men were at a certain point so that we would actually cross path's in the first few km's. It was pretty cool, got to see Derrick in the front move of his race as they were already 50k into the race.
So there was a sprint right off the start and sprint points were up for grabs. I'm not a sprinter and I just sat back. We came to the first significant climb of the day at 13k, thank the lord it wasn't classified as a QOM because it would of made my day over in about 20 minutes of racing. I dropped my chain. And yes usually this isn't a big deal, but I dropped it underneath my SRM sensor and it was stuck. I tried putting it up riding, no go, tried again, and resorted to getting off my bike and I still couldn't get it up. Finally the SRAM neutral support car came up and must of yanked it off because in the process it split my sensor under my bottom bracket in two. No power for the rest of the race, no files to look back on. So then I spent the next 5 minutes chasing back on. Who knows how hard I went up that climb, all I know was I was in panic mode and the pack must of went somewhat hard up the hill as I was riding through numerous of girls off the back. I then got in the caravan for the down hill and got some help from the cars to get up to speed to get back on the pack through the next corner.
Phew, back on the pack, but really worried about the efforts that I had to put in to do. I was really hesitant to waste any energy for the rest of the race. But.......we did hit the first QOM and I got third by elbowing my way up at the end. I was in about 4th and felt good, then some tried to elbow me out and I came around them to get 3rd. Anne from Cheerwine went off early in the race somewhere and I can't remember if it was here or earlier on in the race. But she was off the front going into the next QOM (Tower Hill) which is where the race kind of began.
Tower hill was kind of a gradual climb and then you made a right turn and pavement was in your face (about 20% climb) for about 400m. Karey from my guest team reminded me right before the turn to save it for the end. QOM points were still for grab for 2nd and 3rd. I was standing and staying near the front and then with about 10m to go (thank you compact crank) I popped around and gapped the whole field by a few meters taking the QOM from the pack. The race split here to about 20 girls chasing Anne off the front. 3 Cheerwine girls in it (Anne's teammates) not needing to do any help and then 4 or so girls each from Tibco and Colavita and then one's and two of some other teams. I was alone for team giant and got pushed to do a lot of work from the other strong teams. Eventually attacks starting going, and I found it really hard to figure which ones would stick. It seemed like every time I was in one the pack wasn't happy. Finally one stuck and I watched it roll away with 2 girls from Cheerwine, Tibco and Colavita. I was left with 10 or so girls and nobody wanted to work or let me go. At times the pace was slow and I just wanted to get all the hills and rollers done with. We picked it up a bit to the finish and I ended up coming 10th overall (best finish to date in a UCI road race) and 3rd in our group sprint. I later found out that the 6 that broke away never caught Anne and it kind of shattered near the finish leaving girls in ones or two's all over the course. In the end, I felt pretty good about my result having no teammates to help me out in the front break. Not a bad weekend for sitting in a car for 26 hours. Lots of thanks to Bryan Bowers (Bryson's Dad) for driving the whole way there and a back.
I didn't get any final results on the QOM but I'm crossing my figures that I was 3rd. With Anne off solo she racked up all the first place points and this might of let me squeezed out a third place overall. Even for the little bad luck at the start of the race, this has to be my favorite road course I have ever done so far. Good long race with lots of climbing, good size field and lots of organization put out into the race. Leelanau was a very beautiful area from what I saw as well.
I have marked this race down as a definite for going back next year in full force and hopefully with my own team EMD Serono/Steven's. But, many thanks go out to Team Giant-Michigan for all the support, taking me in and letting me experience this race this year.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Leelanau race report-brief
Very far, but very scenic.
Hard race, 180 km, if it was 220km it would be a Euro classic and it would be a killer!
My legs were great, did the best I could to cover moves, light a few matches and didn't get burned...but didn't make the one that stuck. I finished 26th, 2nd non pro for whatever that is worth.
Tasha raced well and came 10th and maybe snuck into 3rd in the QOM, they havn't posted final results.
I was selected for drug testing, but was an alternate so I dind't have to "produce".
haha.
Up next Toronto Market crit, vs Symmetrics, RACE,Calyon.
Tasha is doing the Women's World Cup in Montreal...she is going well, I think it will be brilliant.
DSJ
Hard race, 180 km, if it was 220km it would be a Euro classic and it would be a killer!
My legs were great, did the best I could to cover moves, light a few matches and didn't get burned...but didn't make the one that stuck. I finished 26th, 2nd non pro for whatever that is worth.
Tasha raced well and came 10th and maybe snuck into 3rd in the QOM, they havn't posted final results.
I was selected for drug testing, but was an alternate so I dind't have to "produce".
haha.
Up next Toronto Market crit, vs Symmetrics, RACE,Calyon.
Tasha is doing the Women's World Cup in Montreal...she is going well, I think it will be brilliant.
DSJ
Friday, May 23, 2008
Tour de Leelanau
For anyone who is interested we will be at the Tour de Leelanau on Sunday in Michigan. This is a UCI Americas Pro Tour race. A very high quality field, Bissel,Priority Health, BMC, RACE and yes Jet Fuel,
so check it out http://www.tourdeleelanau.com.
Natasha will use this as preperation for the World Cup and I have used all other Spring races to be prepared for this so...roll dice, shuffle the deck clean slate we are off.
so check it out http://www.tourdeleelanau.com.
Natasha will use this as preperation for the World Cup and I have used all other Spring races to be prepared for this so...roll dice, shuffle the deck clean slate we are off.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Niagara pics
Pain...lots of pain off the front.
I need to be on top of there, cause I'm not tall enough to hold hands up high without showing some flesh.
Tasha is super conscentrated"don't show stomach...don't show stomach...I'm almost as tall as Merill on the second step"
Kevin the "King of the Mountain" is such a slim climber, he had to put a fleece on to fill out his JET Jacket.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Not quite 100%, but feel it coming soon
This is one of the secrets I learnt in Belgium. That when you are coming to form, is to say you can feel it coming soon. And after this weekend and knowing what I have done the last two or three months in preparation, I know I am coming along.
So Niagara for me was a lot different from Derricks race. It was pretty easy for the most part and this is where I have to start using my head. So 6 laps of the 12 km loop for me, 6 times of Effingham. Not a very long race and I think because of the small field we had, nobody was going to go until the hill. So I made a mistake to start with just my jersey, vest, paper thin arm warmers, shorts and kneewarmers. My armwarmers were already soaked on the start line. During the first 8km of the race, which started downhill, I was freezing. Let me re-phrase this, frigin freezing, I was shaking for the first 5km so bad that my bike was moving. All I kept saying is as soon as we got to the hill I would warm up, and that I was tough and I was a cross racer. I kept saying if I drop out of this I'm never going to be the cross super star I want to be. I had to think about those miserable -5 races last year and all I was wearing was a skin suit. So, I sucked it up and the first time up the hill Merrill pushed the paced and I just sat on. When we got to the top two girls bridged up and we were on our way to pulling away from the pack as a group of 4. I didn't feel the greatest coming into the race but I knew this was the move and was willing to establish the break over the next two laps with these riders so I rode hard and we got away. The 2nd time up the hill I went for QOM points (which none of us were really sure what laps the race organizers had decided to do this on, but after the race I learnt it was the 2nd, 4th, and last lap). I kind of went over the line right beside Merrill and unless there was a photo picture, I'm not really sure if they picked the right girl who won it, but all well, my list of results being screwed up and getting the short end of the stick in racing goes on and on. If anyone remembers last year, nobody could get my name, team name or country right all on the same results page!
So after the 2nd or 3rd lap we were only down to 3, Merrill, Denise and I. 4th time up the hill I won it convincingly, so convincingly that the organizers missed me and decided I was third. They later changed it on their scrap paper but then never changed it in the final results. All well no big deal. I was feeling pretty good about my climbing and the fifth time up I kept it steady and couldn't believe I had a gap on Merrill and Denise again. In hindsight I should of kept this going, but I really didn't know how to beat Merrill. In the past, I've always had to work so hard to stay with her on climbs and now this year it's different. I'm always asking for the pace to be harder and scared to initiate it myself (except for my little blowup up fortune in the park loop with the guys last Tuesday night). I knew Denise wouldn't play into a factor at the end as we were always waiting for her at the top of the climb each lap. But what I didn't realize is that if kept going on the last lap it would of forced Merrill to ride harder to the finish. The finish ended up being really slow at the bottom of the climb. I decide to wait until about 100m to launch my attack. As I was waiting we caught up to two master men riders dropped from their race. Stupid me, Merrill yelled to them "on your inside" and totally caught me off guard and cut right around them. I was positioned behind them and had to say "going between you" as I said it they hesitated and moved together and I eased off and then tried it again. I got through but Merrill had already got her gap and I just rode to the finish behind her and was never able to close it.
It's really nice to be able to see my numbers after the race on my SRM and I know that things are really coming together. I guess Mr. Mazur from Mazur coaching had some nice words to say of me after the race. Merrill even said I was riding like a different person. Not to get caught up with all the positives, but I know how hard Derrick and I have worked over the last year and for other people to see the progress is kind of really nice. I know the fitness is really coming around and that it is the first step to my goal. Now I just have to start learning from racing and trying different moves in races to win. All the pieces to the puzzle are there, now it's putting them all together to have a better than ever result.
NCE
So Niagara for me was a lot different from Derricks race. It was pretty easy for the most part and this is where I have to start using my head. So 6 laps of the 12 km loop for me, 6 times of Effingham. Not a very long race and I think because of the small field we had, nobody was going to go until the hill. So I made a mistake to start with just my jersey, vest, paper thin arm warmers, shorts and kneewarmers. My armwarmers were already soaked on the start line. During the first 8km of the race, which started downhill, I was freezing. Let me re-phrase this, frigin freezing, I was shaking for the first 5km so bad that my bike was moving. All I kept saying is as soon as we got to the hill I would warm up, and that I was tough and I was a cross racer. I kept saying if I drop out of this I'm never going to be the cross super star I want to be. I had to think about those miserable -5 races last year and all I was wearing was a skin suit. So, I sucked it up and the first time up the hill Merrill pushed the paced and I just sat on. When we got to the top two girls bridged up and we were on our way to pulling away from the pack as a group of 4. I didn't feel the greatest coming into the race but I knew this was the move and was willing to establish the break over the next two laps with these riders so I rode hard and we got away. The 2nd time up the hill I went for QOM points (which none of us were really sure what laps the race organizers had decided to do this on, but after the race I learnt it was the 2nd, 4th, and last lap). I kind of went over the line right beside Merrill and unless there was a photo picture, I'm not really sure if they picked the right girl who won it, but all well, my list of results being screwed up and getting the short end of the stick in racing goes on and on. If anyone remembers last year, nobody could get my name, team name or country right all on the same results page!
So after the 2nd or 3rd lap we were only down to 3, Merrill, Denise and I. 4th time up the hill I won it convincingly, so convincingly that the organizers missed me and decided I was third. They later changed it on their scrap paper but then never changed it in the final results. All well no big deal. I was feeling pretty good about my climbing and the fifth time up I kept it steady and couldn't believe I had a gap on Merrill and Denise again. In hindsight I should of kept this going, but I really didn't know how to beat Merrill. In the past, I've always had to work so hard to stay with her on climbs and now this year it's different. I'm always asking for the pace to be harder and scared to initiate it myself (except for my little blowup up fortune in the park loop with the guys last Tuesday night). I knew Denise wouldn't play into a factor at the end as we were always waiting for her at the top of the climb each lap. But what I didn't realize is that if kept going on the last lap it would of forced Merrill to ride harder to the finish. The finish ended up being really slow at the bottom of the climb. I decide to wait until about 100m to launch my attack. As I was waiting we caught up to two master men riders dropped from their race. Stupid me, Merrill yelled to them "on your inside" and totally caught me off guard and cut right around them. I was positioned behind them and had to say "going between you" as I said it they hesitated and moved together and I eased off and then tried it again. I got through but Merrill had already got her gap and I just rode to the finish behind her and was never able to close it.
It's really nice to be able to see my numbers after the race on my SRM and I know that things are really coming together. I guess Mr. Mazur from Mazur coaching had some nice words to say of me after the race. Merrill even said I was riding like a different person. Not to get caught up with all the positives, but I know how hard Derrick and I have worked over the last year and for other people to see the progress is kind of really nice. I know the fitness is really coming around and that it is the first step to my goal. Now I just have to start learning from racing and trying different moves in races to win. All the pieces to the puzzle are there, now it's putting them all together to have a better than ever result.
NCE
Niagara Classic -duo double up as runners up-Derrick and Natasha both come 2nd...Hazzard wins KOM
So I hope I don't always have top get hit by a car to get a result, cause doing well shouldn't hurt that much.
We headed off to Niagara this weekend, to contest the ever arduous Effingham escarpment to do battle in the Niagara Classic.
As a true spring classic should be, Niagara did not live down it's true classic nature. We woke up to 8 degrees Celsius, rain and wind, not to mention the tortuous bite at the end of the Effingham climb.
Last time I was there I won the race as a S3. I was hoping to repeat the same magic yesterday and I almost did, finishing second in what was not a great day on the bike.
Plan was Kevin H was going to go in the early break and win the KOM. So the early break went off in about 30 seconds, Kevin rode well and dominated the KOM competition, giving us a glimpse in the brilliance of this upcoming young gentleman.
I would love to say that I was able to sit on since Pete M had manged to sneak away in the chase group, but as with racing in Ontario, the field was kind of scattered all over the road and I think most guys had to do their share of work since the winds were fierce and trying to sit on can lead into some pretty taxing gap closing.
I sensed some urgency about midway through the race when I knew that the 10 guys up the road had been there since km 1 and thought I should make it up there to reinforce the effort.
I tried to go across with Nathan Chown and did so closing the final bit on Effingham but I really pushed it up the climb and think that I pushed a little too hard cause I felt the nuclear explosion go off inside my entire body.
We were eventually joined by the rest of the pack, a front group of 7 stayed a minute ahead. I then attempted to go across a second time with Alex Boghal from Mazur and another guy, we rotated through and these guys were dropping me and I thought my day was over. We were caught by Ryan Roth's group and we started going full gas to catch the leaders again. and again I was getting gapped and dropped, I again thought the race was over. I felt awful and I was freezing cold, my neck was killing me, I couldn't feel my arms or my hands and I thought about abandoning. I slapped myself in the face ..."don't be such a wimp...you've ridden in worst conditions..you are a hard ass"...that worked. I had spit slathered all over my face, it was disgusting, I was not in a good place, I still felt awful but contented myself to believe this is how it should feel. We caught the lead group it was all back together, I rolled over to Kevin and told him that I was really messed up, I was done, I was cooked, I couldn't do anything more.
Peter Morse attacked, it took a little bit for him and two others to get caught, everyone looked sluggish...I attacked...thinking that there was one lap left...for some reason I thought that we were doing 20km laps, when they were actually 12km. No one came. I had my gap, I went for it, as I started to crest the hill it sunk in that I had one more to go...shit. Another guy was closing on me, I sat up and waited for him at the top of the climb, I figured that both of us could stay away. The cheeky bugger rode right through me and I could not close the gap and he was much bigger than me and just powered away on thew descent, good on him for taking the opportunity to win like that. I held second place as Bryson B joined me in the final few km and I took second and Bryson rounded out the podium in 3rd.
So Jet Fuel results
Derrick 2nd
Bryson 3rd
Kvin Hazzard-1st KOM competition
Things are coming together nicely. I'm recovering from Friday's escapade, although my neck hurts a lot in the morning.
Tasha came 2nd in the race and 2nd in the KOM...She is riding extremely well, and her form is really building up. I can't wait to see the full effect very soon.
I'm really glad to see Kevin set for the race with a clear objective and complete it to perfection, that's what racing is about.
Tash's race report and photos to come.
We headed off to Niagara this weekend, to contest the ever arduous Effingham escarpment to do battle in the Niagara Classic.
As a true spring classic should be, Niagara did not live down it's true classic nature. We woke up to 8 degrees Celsius, rain and wind, not to mention the tortuous bite at the end of the Effingham climb.
Last time I was there I won the race as a S3. I was hoping to repeat the same magic yesterday and I almost did, finishing second in what was not a great day on the bike.
Plan was Kevin H was going to go in the early break and win the KOM. So the early break went off in about 30 seconds, Kevin rode well and dominated the KOM competition, giving us a glimpse in the brilliance of this upcoming young gentleman.
I would love to say that I was able to sit on since Pete M had manged to sneak away in the chase group, but as with racing in Ontario, the field was kind of scattered all over the road and I think most guys had to do their share of work since the winds were fierce and trying to sit on can lead into some pretty taxing gap closing.
I sensed some urgency about midway through the race when I knew that the 10 guys up the road had been there since km 1 and thought I should make it up there to reinforce the effort.
I tried to go across with Nathan Chown and did so closing the final bit on Effingham but I really pushed it up the climb and think that I pushed a little too hard cause I felt the nuclear explosion go off inside my entire body.
We were eventually joined by the rest of the pack, a front group of 7 stayed a minute ahead. I then attempted to go across a second time with Alex Boghal from Mazur and another guy, we rotated through and these guys were dropping me and I thought my day was over. We were caught by Ryan Roth's group and we started going full gas to catch the leaders again. and again I was getting gapped and dropped, I again thought the race was over. I felt awful and I was freezing cold, my neck was killing me, I couldn't feel my arms or my hands and I thought about abandoning. I slapped myself in the face ..."don't be such a wimp...you've ridden in worst conditions..you are a hard ass"...that worked. I had spit slathered all over my face, it was disgusting, I was not in a good place, I still felt awful but contented myself to believe this is how it should feel. We caught the lead group it was all back together, I rolled over to Kevin and told him that I was really messed up, I was done, I was cooked, I couldn't do anything more.
Peter Morse attacked, it took a little bit for him and two others to get caught, everyone looked sluggish...I attacked...thinking that there was one lap left...for some reason I thought that we were doing 20km laps, when they were actually 12km. No one came. I had my gap, I went for it, as I started to crest the hill it sunk in that I had one more to go...shit. Another guy was closing on me, I sat up and waited for him at the top of the climb, I figured that both of us could stay away. The cheeky bugger rode right through me and I could not close the gap and he was much bigger than me and just powered away on thew descent, good on him for taking the opportunity to win like that. I held second place as Bryson B joined me in the final few km and I took second and Bryson rounded out the podium in 3rd.
So Jet Fuel results
Derrick 2nd
Bryson 3rd
Kvin Hazzard-1st KOM competition
Things are coming together nicely. I'm recovering from Friday's escapade, although my neck hurts a lot in the morning.
Tasha came 2nd in the race and 2nd in the KOM...She is riding extremely well, and her form is really building up. I can't wait to see the full effect very soon.
I'm really glad to see Kevin set for the race with a clear objective and complete it to perfection, that's what racing is about.
Tash's race report and photos to come.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Hit by a car!
Hit by car...yah i got smoked by a lady this morning on my way to the Parc after an interval session on the Computrainer. I have taken the liberty to reinact what my face looked like when I heard her slam! on the breaks and almost take my life.
She tried to pass me on the inside(what was she thinking) I heard the car coming so I moved back towards the right side of the road. I don't know what the hell she was thinking. She was nice enough to give me a ride home. I didn't even yell at her. But we were in her car and she starts telling me her chest hurts, I had told her that I was a Nurse, she asked me what was wrong. I said "guilt"...I usually don't swear...but seriously this was a close call, even for me. I took some pictures of her car, to give you a play by play. I could also show you the power file..moderate power then all of a sudden...no power , no speed, no nothing. Holy shit.
Anyways I had to go to the Cyclery and make like 1000$ worth of repairs, so we will be leaving for Niagara Classic tomorrow...my but hurts, it's going to be a painful drive. Oh well, that's just the way it goes. The most ironic part is that i was actually being more careful today and had taken appropriate bike lanes, waited for traffic lights, come to a complete stop at stop signs.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Just go out there and have fun.
These are the word's my coach gave to me last week, and honestly they are the only things getting me through the bike racing on the weekend right now. He told me "this all extra what you do on the weekend, just have fun". It seems simple enough, but honestly if I didn't have this huge cyclo cross dream for this year and just wanted to build my fitness for the fall, I think I might be a little depressed with my road racing results lately. I have desperately been trying to find really challenging tough courses with big fields. But the challenging parts of the course somehow become insignificant, especially when a climb that lasts for about 20 minutes of each lap which is 45 minutes of 4 laps in total (ok way too many numbers, but I'm the math geek of the house, that's like almost 50 % of the race). Anyways back to the point. Two of these frigin climbs were neutralized. The second time there was a split and I had a little gap on the girls behind and we got neutralized as the men's field was going by. First of all don't neutralize a field when we are going hard up a climb, second of all don't neutralize the field 4 minutes before the first guy comes by and then they all come by in bits and pieces. Yep, we waited and all the girls struggling could ride up to us and collect there energy.
So this was this weekends race at Bear Mountain. There was a pretty big field to start with, maybe 50 or 60 women. But the group did not start to split until the 3rd and 4th time up the climb. And each time there would only be a few of us at the top and then the larger pack would catch us in the next half of the lap through the downhill sections working really hard. I can only say that this would of not happened if there had been a 3rd and 4th time of going hard up the hill (like in the first two laps). Needless to say there was a big pack at the finish and it was slightly downhill and we were going over 60 k an hour. I was planning on attacking the last 5 k but I didn't have any teammates in the large pack to back up my suicide moves. Because of this I was waiting for two attacks to go and then I was going to counter. Yep, women's racing, this never happened it was just stupid easy to the finish, and then I panicked about being boxed in and tried to make my way near the front. Oops, I was on the front with 1 K to go and it was way too early and I screwed up any attempt of finishing in the top 10 in the group.
In hindsight, I think I should start falling back to my old habits, make people suffer and sacrifice a bit of myself to make the racing harder. I should of attacked in the last 5 k, but half heartily, and then done it again, and then again.
My only positive notes are that my climbing legs back. I have always thought to myself that I was more of a climber, but last year I had some struggles at some hilly races. My bike feels awesome climbing this year and my set up seems to be a lot better. Add my new sponsorship from Reynolds (a set of DV46 cross wheels with a road tubular glued on them) and my new SRM compact crank and I feel like I am floating up hills. I just want to find a race to use all this, maybe this can happen this weekend at the Niagara Classic.
NCE
So this was this weekends race at Bear Mountain. There was a pretty big field to start with, maybe 50 or 60 women. But the group did not start to split until the 3rd and 4th time up the climb. And each time there would only be a few of us at the top and then the larger pack would catch us in the next half of the lap through the downhill sections working really hard. I can only say that this would of not happened if there had been a 3rd and 4th time of going hard up the hill (like in the first two laps). Needless to say there was a big pack at the finish and it was slightly downhill and we were going over 60 k an hour. I was planning on attacking the last 5 k but I didn't have any teammates in the large pack to back up my suicide moves. Because of this I was waiting for two attacks to go and then I was going to counter. Yep, women's racing, this never happened it was just stupid easy to the finish, and then I panicked about being boxed in and tried to make my way near the front. Oops, I was on the front with 1 K to go and it was way too early and I screwed up any attempt of finishing in the top 10 in the group.
In hindsight, I think I should start falling back to my old habits, make people suffer and sacrifice a bit of myself to make the racing harder. I should of attacked in the last 5 k, but half heartily, and then done it again, and then again.
My only positive notes are that my climbing legs back. I have always thought to myself that I was more of a climber, but last year I had some struggles at some hilly races. My bike feels awesome climbing this year and my set up seems to be a lot better. Add my new sponsorship from Reynolds (a set of DV46 cross wheels with a road tubular glued on them) and my new SRM compact crank and I feel like I am floating up hills. I just want to find a race to use all this, maybe this can happen this weekend at the Niagara Classic.
NCE
Bear Mountain Race NY
Finally I have something positive to say about my racing this year. I went back to my old style of hard ass racing, from the front getting involved, animating and it payed off.
I was all about breaking the mold this weekend. I was a rebel. I even went to Starbucks and ordered a "small" coffee before leaving. I know they call it Venti, or Grandi or something...but really give me a break, I'm not in to grandi, non fat, so soy maci whatevers...coffee....just give me a frigin cup of strong coffee. Anyways, we went back down to NY, just about 30km away from NY city on the Palisades Hwy to battle at Bear Mountain Road Race. The race for me was 160 km of hilly roads, it was a 20 km circuit. It was an 80 km descent followed by a 180 degree turn on to a sharp steep hill, a little false flat a couple traffic circle turns, crit style and a step climb for a good 6-8minutes and some good fast flat sections by some local beaches(For Wendy...I said beaches not bitches). So after almost dying the first time through the 180 degree turn, I was pretty much maxed on adrenaline, so /i used it to stay in the front. The field was big, probably about 110 guys, pretty descent quality, but this type of race which has 80 minutes of climbing...there's gonna be a lot of shrapnel, so you can't let these people get in front of you. I stayed near the front follow wheels cover attacks, never really initiating too much. I knew the Volkswagon guys were firing 100%, so they had to be watched, also they won the race last year.
Everything was under control, going to plan, staying out of trouble when, boom! I smoked a pot hole in which you could probably fit a couple Leprechauns in..shit. This is not good, it's pinned at 50 km an hour trying to pull back some guys off the front. Raise my right hand fade to to the back...Kevin Hazzard, my Jet Fuel team mate, who was slightly fatigued from his trip to the South and racing yesterday says "Derrick you want my wheel?" Hell yah! We drop back , grab his wheel, slam it in and never look back, head down and next thing I know after a good hard chase and a little help from some guy on a moto...well I'm not sure if he knew he was kinda of helping, Bryon Bowers another teammate, drops back and helps me close the final chunk. Nice. As Borat would say "Very Nice".
So I'm totally frigin on the rivit, feeling like a sac of poo, from already doing 85 km and covering stuff. Well after taking this help I had to do everything I could to achieve a good result. So I go straight to the front. VW is firing off ...so is EVA. Wait...I hear everyone breathing really hard, I'm breathing hard feeling not great...then I remember Glen's mantra"hit em when you feel like shit, chances are they are worse"...so I hit em, JS form EVA comes and goes again off my attack, we get 3 going, we start passing other fields which is great cause it leads to chaos behind, a few other guys join, and then some more. We roll around for a while finally the group swells to 15 or so and there it is. About 10 km from the finish I fade back at the wrong time and 5 guys break off the front and get a gap, they keep it. Everyone in my group is shattered...hahah really messed up. In the final sprint , a guys unclips in front of me and I loose some inertia and come 12th overall. End result not bad could have been better, but hey lately I haven't been 100% and I'm still not, but it's nice to see the form coming back and the head is now attached to my body and they are talking again. A couple little things I needed to do differently but you have to be in the break before you win from the break, so no worries.
It was really great to have teammates pulling for me today. The race was much more satisfiing and I gave a 110% knowing that the Jet Fuel boys had sacrificed their race for the better of mine. That's what team work is about, if someone's on that day, the others do everything possible to make sure he gets and stays at the front of the race.
Tasha will have a little race report to follow.
DSJ
I was all about breaking the mold this weekend. I was a rebel. I even went to Starbucks and ordered a "small" coffee before leaving. I know they call it Venti, or Grandi or something...but really give me a break, I'm not in to grandi, non fat, so soy maci whatevers...coffee....just give me a frigin cup of strong coffee. Anyways, we went back down to NY, just about 30km away from NY city on the Palisades Hwy to battle at Bear Mountain Road Race. The race for me was 160 km of hilly roads, it was a 20 km circuit. It was an 80 km descent followed by a 180 degree turn on to a sharp steep hill, a little false flat a couple traffic circle turns, crit style and a step climb for a good 6-8minutes and some good fast flat sections by some local beaches(For Wendy...I said beaches not bitches). So after almost dying the first time through the 180 degree turn, I was pretty much maxed on adrenaline, so /i used it to stay in the front. The field was big, probably about 110 guys, pretty descent quality, but this type of race which has 80 minutes of climbing...there's gonna be a lot of shrapnel, so you can't let these people get in front of you. I stayed near the front follow wheels cover attacks, never really initiating too much. I knew the Volkswagon guys were firing 100%, so they had to be watched, also they won the race last year.
Everything was under control, going to plan, staying out of trouble when, boom! I smoked a pot hole in which you could probably fit a couple Leprechauns in..shit. This is not good, it's pinned at 50 km an hour trying to pull back some guys off the front. Raise my right hand fade to to the back...Kevin Hazzard, my Jet Fuel team mate, who was slightly fatigued from his trip to the South and racing yesterday says "Derrick you want my wheel?" Hell yah! We drop back , grab his wheel, slam it in and never look back, head down and next thing I know after a good hard chase and a little help from some guy on a moto...well I'm not sure if he knew he was kinda of helping, Bryon Bowers another teammate, drops back and helps me close the final chunk. Nice. As Borat would say "Very Nice".
So I'm totally frigin on the rivit, feeling like a sac of poo, from already doing 85 km and covering stuff. Well after taking this help I had to do everything I could to achieve a good result. So I go straight to the front. VW is firing off ...so is EVA. Wait...I hear everyone breathing really hard, I'm breathing hard feeling not great...then I remember Glen's mantra"hit em when you feel like shit, chances are they are worse"...so I hit em, JS form EVA comes and goes again off my attack, we get 3 going, we start passing other fields which is great cause it leads to chaos behind, a few other guys join, and then some more. We roll around for a while finally the group swells to 15 or so and there it is. About 10 km from the finish I fade back at the wrong time and 5 guys break off the front and get a gap, they keep it. Everyone in my group is shattered...hahah really messed up. In the final sprint , a guys unclips in front of me and I loose some inertia and come 12th overall. End result not bad could have been better, but hey lately I haven't been 100% and I'm still not, but it's nice to see the form coming back and the head is now attached to my body and they are talking again. A couple little things I needed to do differently but you have to be in the break before you win from the break, so no worries.
It was really great to have teammates pulling for me today. The race was much more satisfiing and I gave a 110% knowing that the Jet Fuel boys had sacrificed their race for the better of mine. That's what team work is about, if someone's on that day, the others do everything possible to make sure he gets and stays at the front of the race.
Tasha will have a little race report to follow.
DSJ
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Shawarma Palace-New Location
As many of you know there are a few things that I take very seriously. Above all else, Shawarma. Sometimes this food gets a bad rap, cause there are allot of impostors out there who try to sell you their cheap ass stale, taste lacking version, so I have taken it upon myself to be knowledgeable in all things Shawarma, to educate the masses and pass on my knowledge first hand. So we ventured off to the New Shawarma Palace on Carling to see if it could live up to the home ofall things shawarma , Shawarma Palace on Rideau st.
The key to having good Shwarma is to be in a state of caloric deficit/extreme hunger/really messed up from a workout or better yet all of the above. Once this is achieved, you must then talk about Shawarma for a while so your mind starts to anticipate the fresh dollops of garlic sauce smucked on the side of your plate. So we had a five hour day at PEAK Centre and met the discussed prerequisites to find Shawarma Nirvana.
For some reason the Chicken platter is 1 dollar cheaper, not sure why. But the plate is slightly smaller and there is about 6-8% less food volume vs the OG Swarma Palace.
Garlic sauce is similiar but not quite the same and the after taste lingered a little longer for some reason. The chicken portion was good, but it lacked a certain je ne sais quoi of the OG SP.
The ambiance was pleasant, lots of pictures of Lebanon and Cedar trees that are the mainstay of good Lebanese restaurant abroad.
What a lot of people don't know , is that the most important feature of a good Shawarma platter is temperature. I have figured out the critical factor of all platters, which is not commonly known by most lay people. The rice, is they key. You say how can the rice be so important? Well it's actually the temperature of the rice. The rice must, I repeat must be very hot, as hot as possible and must be methodically laid as a type of warming bed for the rest of the platter. The rice is basically the foundation of the platter, it must be hot and saturated with unfamiliar spices like bay leaves, caraway seeds and a slight bit of Olive Oil and it must be moist. I believe it is the moisture of the rice that allows the heat to warm the chicken and provides the aroma to the platter. At some point you have to see steam come off of the rice, if yo don't I actually feel sorry for you cause your experience will not quite be the same.
The temperature of rice at the new location...was ok...not great, just ok. From my experience, you get the best, hottest rice and platter, when you look behind the Shwarma counter and the guys are working really hard and they are sweating up a storm, you know that it's the rice boiler and the flame from the Shish Taouk that are making them sweat, but they do this for you, so you can have tasty food. It's all about sacrifice.
So will I go back...well most likely as it is closer to Peak and will make for a quicker turn around after spinning ourselves into oblivion in Kanata. But nothing, I mean nothing comes close to SP on Rideau, this is where all good things Shawarma come from.
You may think this is funny, but I'm frigin serious man...Swarma Palace rules! If I ever have my own team, I'm gonna get Zach to sponsor us and write Powered by Shawarma on our asses and see how many people get on my wheel then!
The key to having good Shwarma is to be in a state of caloric deficit/extreme hunger/really messed up from a workout or better yet all of the above. Once this is achieved, you must then talk about Shawarma for a while so your mind starts to anticipate the fresh dollops of garlic sauce smucked on the side of your plate. So we had a five hour day at PEAK Centre and met the discussed prerequisites to find Shawarma Nirvana.
For some reason the Chicken platter is 1 dollar cheaper, not sure why. But the plate is slightly smaller and there is about 6-8% less food volume vs the OG Swarma Palace.
Garlic sauce is similiar but not quite the same and the after taste lingered a little longer for some reason. The chicken portion was good, but it lacked a certain je ne sais quoi of the OG SP.
The ambiance was pleasant, lots of pictures of Lebanon and Cedar trees that are the mainstay of good Lebanese restaurant abroad.
What a lot of people don't know , is that the most important feature of a good Shawarma platter is temperature. I have figured out the critical factor of all platters, which is not commonly known by most lay people. The rice, is they key. You say how can the rice be so important? Well it's actually the temperature of the rice. The rice must, I repeat must be very hot, as hot as possible and must be methodically laid as a type of warming bed for the rest of the platter. The rice is basically the foundation of the platter, it must be hot and saturated with unfamiliar spices like bay leaves, caraway seeds and a slight bit of Olive Oil and it must be moist. I believe it is the moisture of the rice that allows the heat to warm the chicken and provides the aroma to the platter. At some point you have to see steam come off of the rice, if yo don't I actually feel sorry for you cause your experience will not quite be the same.
The temperature of rice at the new location...was ok...not great, just ok. From my experience, you get the best, hottest rice and platter, when you look behind the Shwarma counter and the guys are working really hard and they are sweating up a storm, you know that it's the rice boiler and the flame from the Shish Taouk that are making them sweat, but they do this for you, so you can have tasty food. It's all about sacrifice.
So will I go back...well most likely as it is closer to Peak and will make for a quicker turn around after spinning ourselves into oblivion in Kanata. But nothing, I mean nothing comes close to SP on Rideau, this is where all good things Shawarma come from.
You may think this is funny, but I'm frigin serious man...Swarma Palace rules! If I ever have my own team, I'm gonna get Zach to sponsor us and write Powered by Shawarma on our asses and see how many people get on my wheel then!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Jiminy Peak,Race report
So pack the car, well not ours, Sue Schlatter 's Honda and off to MA. As I've just recently found out, after knowing Sue for a few years I've been mispronouncing her Swiss name which is indeed Schlatter, the l is before the t, I think I've been calling her Schattler...woops. Anyways, anytime Tash and I get to travel with "new" people it's always kind of fun, cause we can tell our stories and share our conspiracy theories about aspartame and MSG. No matter who we travel with I always tel them that Tash is kind of of an MSG/Aspartame Nazi. Seriously. She'll attribute every ailment known to man kind to food sweeteners and preservatives. Don't, under any circumstance ever, I mean ever let Tash see you with a can of "diet" pop...she will hold it against you in court...I wouldn't even be surprised if she sends an e-mail to film maker Micheal Moore asking him to write a movie called "MSG causes migraines...and if you don't think so you are wrong".
Oh yah...the race..men's race 150 km rolling course, freezing cold, rain 110 guys or so in the field. My tactic, I marked a couple of guys from big teams that were also there solo, Jelly Belly, KBS, and Slipstream, well no shit Sherlock, I guess so did everybody else.. Well, once again I was spoiled by my not so brilliant take on the tactic of the day. Move went at 35 km in..shit. Funny thing is in the car I'm shooting my big fat mouth off the Tash and Sue about what they should do, cause obviously my strategy has been working so far(not). So a little flustered I tried to get in the second move, but waited too long tried to cross the gap with a couple others, we almost had it, then one guy from Kenda opened a fatal gap on the climb and I couldn't dig deep enough into the suitcase to close the the group, ended up being in never never land with some guys who had blown up or weren't working that hard and got swallowed up by the pack.
Sue ended up winning the women's race and Tash came 4th, they were pretty happy with that, Tash timed her up sprint a little wrong and got nipped at the line , but still rode well. Thing that sucks is they didn't even have a podium for the women, they just gave them an envelop and a mug and said thanks for coming. Kinda reminded me of the OBC Grand Prix, huge turnout, like 800 people and then no even knows who won the premiere events...really weired.
I'm glad I have a long ass road race in my legs, it was almost a four hour ordeal. Next week is just over 4 hours, so I'll build from this into next week, all in some good preparation for May's premier event, the Tour of Leelanau a hard ass 170 km Road Race in Michigan.
Truth be told, I thought I would have been hitting some form by now...but the Gods of From must have good things planned for me, the longer I wait the better it will come. Ok, off my butt and must go destroy myself again today. Haha, I am a sick and twisted individual.
DSJ
Oh yah...the race..men's race 150 km rolling course, freezing cold, rain 110 guys or so in the field. My tactic, I marked a couple of guys from big teams that were also there solo, Jelly Belly, KBS, and Slipstream, well no shit Sherlock, I guess so did everybody else.. Well, once again I was spoiled by my not so brilliant take on the tactic of the day. Move went at 35 km in..shit. Funny thing is in the car I'm shooting my big fat mouth off the Tash and Sue about what they should do, cause obviously my strategy has been working so far(not). So a little flustered I tried to get in the second move, but waited too long tried to cross the gap with a couple others, we almost had it, then one guy from Kenda opened a fatal gap on the climb and I couldn't dig deep enough into the suitcase to close the the group, ended up being in never never land with some guys who had blown up or weren't working that hard and got swallowed up by the pack.
Sue ended up winning the women's race and Tash came 4th, they were pretty happy with that, Tash timed her up sprint a little wrong and got nipped at the line , but still rode well. Thing that sucks is they didn't even have a podium for the women, they just gave them an envelop and a mug and said thanks for coming. Kinda reminded me of the OBC Grand Prix, huge turnout, like 800 people and then no even knows who won the premiere events...really weired.
I'm glad I have a long ass road race in my legs, it was almost a four hour ordeal. Next week is just over 4 hours, so I'll build from this into next week, all in some good preparation for May's premier event, the Tour of Leelanau a hard ass 170 km Road Race in Michigan.
Truth be told, I thought I would have been hitting some form by now...but the Gods of From must have good things planned for me, the longer I wait the better it will come. Ok, off my butt and must go destroy myself again today. Haha, I am a sick and twisted individual.
DSJ
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