Today was the last day I would be wearing the EMD Serono/Steven's colours as the team does not exist when I race my next race on Janurary 1st, 2009. I wanted one last chance to shine those colours, but my recovery from my flu bug has left me disappointed and doubting myself to say the least. I know, 6 days after having a bug, you shouldn't be that hard on yourself, but for some reason I am. I tried hard today and nothing seemed to happen for me. Bad start, left me fighting to get up through the largest women's field I have yet to see in a race here in Belgium. I took some risks in the first lap and crashed hard twice because of it. My legs still don't have their usual punch, but I pulled around a group of 12 girls to try and make up time. This wasn't working and I couldn't get away, so I decided to make it into a tactical fight to beat all the girls I was with at 2 laps to go. It was pretty hard fighting with my brain today that far back in the race and then having to lose more time around the corners sitting on 12 girls. I was thinking, "what the hell am I doing back here, I bet none of these girls have won any UCI races this year, let alone 7". At that point, I said to myself I better win this sprint and recovered and dusted them all at the end. So I guess the best thing about today was I succeeded with this at the end and using the last lap to make my way from 12 position in the group to 3rd in the last corner and then jumping by them all at the line.
Derrick's race went better, still having a bit of bad luck with his equipment failing, but I can feel that he is on his way up on the results sheets. He's getting more aggressive, making better choices on his eqiupment (he actually chose to use his aluminum bike over his carbon and aluminum wheels as the course was super frozen with hard ruts). He also ran the Shwable tires which were also a better tire to hook in the frozen sections, not like the grifos I used that slid out a few times.
Other than that not much to say about todays race, not great at the very least for me. The good news is I get to put on a brand new kit that's way closer to home for the next race. I can transform myself into anyone I want to be for the race on Thursday. The colours I will be shining aren't the team that I will ride for the '09 season on the road (Specialized) but our none other The Cyclery kit to keeps things in line until the end of cross season in February. I thinking of transforming into Wonder Women, as when I was 4 or 5 I got a Wonder Women comstume for Christmas and I ran around the house like I was the fastest little girl in the universe. Let's hope The Cyclery kit makes me the fastest cyclo cross racer in the universe!
NCE
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Diegem Super Prestige-Introducing John Derrick
Not sure if you've seen the results for the Diegem Super Prestige, but you'll notice a certain John Derrick from Canada...well that was me. Not only did they get the name wrong but also since John Derrick doesn't exist, he didn't get a call up. So I started from the back row.
So this round of the Super prestige is run at night in a town center and is mostly gravel cinder paths, pavements, back alleys and rock hard frozen rutted ground.
It was prety sweet as it was just Andre Sutton (Andy) and me going to this one as their was no chicks race. The rest of the crew stayed home and watched it on the tele. How cool is that.
Funny enough I actually had a descent start. Until some Italian dude was getting a little frisky and put me into the fence a little. No worries though, I lost a couple of spots, battled back and forth, then noticed Jonathan Page in front of me. I figured if I held on for as long as posible I would have a descent race. Well the "hangin on" got me in a fight with a tree. I showed that tree who was Boss...so then I was a little further back than I wanted, scrapped it out with a couple dudes for 35 th spot. Crazy that one guy put me into the barriers and took all skin off a knuckle. I was pissed so I throttled it a little and he was gone once I got around him.
So, I ended up 35th on the same lap as the winners, I would guess about 55-60 guys started the race, but they don't record the DNF's here. Not really the race of a life time but after 2 less than stellar races I just needed a respectable finish to get my head out of the gutter. Don't know if you've ever been in last place, but it's a little hard to deal with, especially after having a pretty good season in America.
Things may be coming together. Plus, now that I've got a couple fans here in Europe, my post race trainer cool down invovled taking pictures with kids and getting patts on the butt from wise Belgian dudes smoking pipes. Also we had a crew of 5 working for us today...three guys, two girls, super keen to help and it only cost 15 Euros. Don't think that you could find people at home to work for 4 hours for 3 dollars an hour. I would pay them more, but obviusly I'm not yet in the money, so for now they get my whitty jokes and sign language all of which they probably have absolutely no idea of what I'm talking about.
So does start the blitz of racing known as Christmas Cross...hopefully it is a sign that things will get better.
John Derrick
So this round of the Super prestige is run at night in a town center and is mostly gravel cinder paths, pavements, back alleys and rock hard frozen rutted ground.
It was prety sweet as it was just Andre Sutton (Andy) and me going to this one as their was no chicks race. The rest of the crew stayed home and watched it on the tele. How cool is that.
Funny enough I actually had a descent start. Until some Italian dude was getting a little frisky and put me into the fence a little. No worries though, I lost a couple of spots, battled back and forth, then noticed Jonathan Page in front of me. I figured if I held on for as long as posible I would have a descent race. Well the "hangin on" got me in a fight with a tree. I showed that tree who was Boss...so then I was a little further back than I wanted, scrapped it out with a couple dudes for 35 th spot. Crazy that one guy put me into the barriers and took all skin off a knuckle. I was pissed so I throttled it a little and he was gone once I got around him.
So, I ended up 35th on the same lap as the winners, I would guess about 55-60 guys started the race, but they don't record the DNF's here. Not really the race of a life time but after 2 less than stellar races I just needed a respectable finish to get my head out of the gutter. Don't know if you've ever been in last place, but it's a little hard to deal with, especially after having a pretty good season in America.
Things may be coming together. Plus, now that I've got a couple fans here in Europe, my post race trainer cool down invovled taking pictures with kids and getting patts on the butt from wise Belgian dudes smoking pipes. Also we had a crew of 5 working for us today...three guys, two girls, super keen to help and it only cost 15 Euros. Don't think that you could find people at home to work for 4 hours for 3 dollars an hour. I would pay them more, but obviusly I'm not yet in the money, so for now they get my whitty jokes and sign language all of which they probably have absolutely no idea of what I'm talking about.
So does start the blitz of racing known as Christmas Cross...hopefully it is a sign that things will get better.
John Derrick
Friday, December 26, 2008
Zolder-The ghosts of Christmas past
I'd like to start this off giving you some good news to hear on Christmas, but it goes from bad to worse, but here goes.
Tasha wasn't 100% yet, so the plan was to pull the plug if she was off. She was sick in bed all day Wednesday and probably only eating some toast all day really effected her two days later. She started the race and rode a lap and half and just didn't have it, so instead of putting herself into a hole, she pulled out and called it a day. There is still a lot of racing left and sometimes, when you are recovering from illness, it's just better to save your energy, moral and effort for when it could be put to good use. Not only that but there were some pretty tric sections that you could crash severly if you wern't right in the head. The funniest thing she said was something that would of scarred her a year ago, was the only way she could go by people today. On the rutted, sketchy downhills, she just didn't have the push or the power to do any efforts on the flats or uphills. I was so proud to see her come off the course, just said it wasn't going to happen, it was a hard decision.
So the pressure was on me, as when Tasha is not shining I usually come around. Well not today unfortunately. The race started off ok, but then disaster. I ran up a section cause it was bottlenecked and my bike bounced off the frozen ground and my chain fell off. Then I put it back on as I was running...got to the top and it was off again, figured I could just shift the derailer and get it back as I was loosing ground, but it got completely jammed into the BB and a spectator helped me pull it out. Pause for a second, just remember this is the World Cup. So I finally get it back on and I start going ballistic trying to salvage a respectable race, well I mangaged to crash really hard on the downhill and really put the nail in the coffin. So I'm pretty much in last position, cause I pass like 6 guys who realized that the race was pretty much over and they pulled the plug...but I'm kind of stuborn, so just try to keep on pushing.
I'd like to say that I stayed positive, but I didn't. I wanted to throw my bike across the race track and wake up from this bad dream...I pinched my leg...ok I didn't, but the hematoma that had built up on my left hip felt like someone was pinching me. But once again, I just sucked it up. My decision to come here, my pill to swallow. It sucked, I sucked, it was aweful. Last place. All the hard work over the last year and it was as if I had just eat pancakes and Shwarma for a year and nothing was better, it was worse. I just got so mad, I just figured other guys ahead of me would quit, surely they could not take being so far back. I actually started riding respectably, but the damage was done, and there was pretty much no hope.
Then I remembered all the people that came out to support us at our event, all the people that have helped us out this year and if they were watching, I wouldn't want to let them down. It's ez when the going is good, but it was hard, not in the legs, but in the head. I also remember telling the Jet Fuel kids this year "don't ever quit", no matter what just keep on pushing, don't quit. I thought what kind of hypocritical role model would I be. Hey if your sick that's a different story as you can dig yourself a deeper hole, I just had shit go wrong and it's not like I had any other plans for the afternoon, so might as well just keep on riding.
It will go my way, there will be a time and a place, and it will fall into place.
Stick to the plan. This place is like a bread cooker, get it right and it rises, mess it up and its burned crispy, tates aweful and makes you sick. Good news is last time I looked, there was no shortage of flour in Belgium.
Fellow Canuck Wendy Simms, other wise known as DUBS had a good ride squeeking in the top ten and Aaron "School boy too cool for School-er" just made the last lap. It's always nice finishing on the same lap, he was pretty stoked.
Funny story. I did buy some Morgan Blue Bio cleaner that I was supposed to bring back to Robbie O, but I bought a plastic bottle and then had a vision of it exploding in the bike bag, so yesterday I used it to clean our bikes. I accidentally spilled some on my abdomen and it felt a little bizzare. Well later when I took my shorts off, to my suprise I gave myself a 1st degree chemical burn that made my stomach look like I had the plague. SO I rinsed it off, but not an hour later I had a huge bout of Nausea...it was so severe, I ran upstairs, fast, and I came so close to heaving...but I didn't want too, cause then I'd have to eat all those calories again...then it passed, but anyways the moral of the story is BIO cleaner must not mean BIO degradeable, but more like BIO Hazard. Also it is a bright blue color and almost looks radioactive, no kidding it does a good job on the chain.
Ok, I made myself laugh with that story now I feel like an idiot and a fool...but wait...I still beat Lance. Now I'm better. Ahhhh. Also I'm so happy for that my three years of nagging Tasha with "Nursly" advice has finally paid off. Remember Natasha is the child that used to run on the spot in her bed room and wore out the carpet, so for her not to race...believe me, she she has come a long way from the gym rat who used to train 25 hours a week when we met. See, if you nag people enough they will eventually give in, or divorce you...but we are not married yet, so....
DSJ
Tasha wasn't 100% yet, so the plan was to pull the plug if she was off. She was sick in bed all day Wednesday and probably only eating some toast all day really effected her two days later. She started the race and rode a lap and half and just didn't have it, so instead of putting herself into a hole, she pulled out and called it a day. There is still a lot of racing left and sometimes, when you are recovering from illness, it's just better to save your energy, moral and effort for when it could be put to good use. Not only that but there were some pretty tric sections that you could crash severly if you wern't right in the head. The funniest thing she said was something that would of scarred her a year ago, was the only way she could go by people today. On the rutted, sketchy downhills, she just didn't have the push or the power to do any efforts on the flats or uphills. I was so proud to see her come off the course, just said it wasn't going to happen, it was a hard decision.
So the pressure was on me, as when Tasha is not shining I usually come around. Well not today unfortunately. The race started off ok, but then disaster. I ran up a section cause it was bottlenecked and my bike bounced off the frozen ground and my chain fell off. Then I put it back on as I was running...got to the top and it was off again, figured I could just shift the derailer and get it back as I was loosing ground, but it got completely jammed into the BB and a spectator helped me pull it out. Pause for a second, just remember this is the World Cup. So I finally get it back on and I start going ballistic trying to salvage a respectable race, well I mangaged to crash really hard on the downhill and really put the nail in the coffin. So I'm pretty much in last position, cause I pass like 6 guys who realized that the race was pretty much over and they pulled the plug...but I'm kind of stuborn, so just try to keep on pushing.
I'd like to say that I stayed positive, but I didn't. I wanted to throw my bike across the race track and wake up from this bad dream...I pinched my leg...ok I didn't, but the hematoma that had built up on my left hip felt like someone was pinching me. But once again, I just sucked it up. My decision to come here, my pill to swallow. It sucked, I sucked, it was aweful. Last place. All the hard work over the last year and it was as if I had just eat pancakes and Shwarma for a year and nothing was better, it was worse. I just got so mad, I just figured other guys ahead of me would quit, surely they could not take being so far back. I actually started riding respectably, but the damage was done, and there was pretty much no hope.
Then I remembered all the people that came out to support us at our event, all the people that have helped us out this year and if they were watching, I wouldn't want to let them down. It's ez when the going is good, but it was hard, not in the legs, but in the head. I also remember telling the Jet Fuel kids this year "don't ever quit", no matter what just keep on pushing, don't quit. I thought what kind of hypocritical role model would I be. Hey if your sick that's a different story as you can dig yourself a deeper hole, I just had shit go wrong and it's not like I had any other plans for the afternoon, so might as well just keep on riding.
It will go my way, there will be a time and a place, and it will fall into place.
Stick to the plan. This place is like a bread cooker, get it right and it rises, mess it up and its burned crispy, tates aweful and makes you sick. Good news is last time I looked, there was no shortage of flour in Belgium.
Fellow Canuck Wendy Simms, other wise known as DUBS had a good ride squeeking in the top ten and Aaron "School boy too cool for School-er" just made the last lap. It's always nice finishing on the same lap, he was pretty stoked.
Funny story. I did buy some Morgan Blue Bio cleaner that I was supposed to bring back to Robbie O, but I bought a plastic bottle and then had a vision of it exploding in the bike bag, so yesterday I used it to clean our bikes. I accidentally spilled some on my abdomen and it felt a little bizzare. Well later when I took my shorts off, to my suprise I gave myself a 1st degree chemical burn that made my stomach look like I had the plague. SO I rinsed it off, but not an hour later I had a huge bout of Nausea...it was so severe, I ran upstairs, fast, and I came so close to heaving...but I didn't want too, cause then I'd have to eat all those calories again...then it passed, but anyways the moral of the story is BIO cleaner must not mean BIO degradeable, but more like BIO Hazard. Also it is a bright blue color and almost looks radioactive, no kidding it does a good job on the chain.
Ok, I made myself laugh with that story now I feel like an idiot and a fool...but wait...I still beat Lance. Now I'm better. Ahhhh. Also I'm so happy for that my three years of nagging Tasha with "Nursly" advice has finally paid off. Remember Natasha is the child that used to run on the spot in her bed room and wore out the carpet, so for her not to race...believe me, she she has come a long way from the gym rat who used to train 25 hours a week when we met. See, if you nag people enough they will eventually give in, or divorce you...but we are not married yet, so....
DSJ
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas in Zolder
I almost forgot it was Christmas. We do have a christmas tree and all, but just not the same without snow.
So today woke up to a little trainer ride, then out the door to pre ride the World Cup in Zolder. What a polar opposite of the World Cup in Nommay. This course is fast!
The course starts off on pavement, obviously, takes a couple crit corners on the pavement before throttelling some fast ground/sand. The pavement transitions past the pits for the first time, which is the good side to pit from and doubles back on itself before entering the first set of roller coaster uphill kicker climbs that are very sandy. The climbs are slightly hard to get over and then shoot you down the back side of them violently onto the pavement where you must turn quickly and hit another kicker then face some off camber sand, uphill, more sand, up and down over some roots, up again towards a chapel, steep, fast downhill, chicane turns, blast down a straight away, and over a woop. The course then gets really tricky.
There is a really tricky, sandy muddy uphill left hander, flattens out a bit, with some mud and lots of bumpy ruts and you have to really punch it to get over another hard right onto the top deck. There is a litte respite in a closed pavement section before a brutal loose sand downwill that your momentum carries you to a 3 meter wall that must be about 60 percent gradient that you have to dig your toes into to climb up. Once you get over that you fly down to one more 180 degree downhill right turn onto the sand, then they built a massive metal ramp to throw you onto the start finish which you make one more right hander before the finish. Man, I'm out of breath all ready. So the challenges of this course will be to ride as much as possible full throttle with the hands glued to the top of the bars and just pretend that I don't have brakes, for the most part. I think as long as you commit to the sand, the bike will find its way down and the 30, 000 spectators will probably be motivation enough to ride fast.
This course is a little more like the type of course I am used to, fast, speed, power. The main difference is that you always have to be thinking and completely dialed in and focued. As well courses in the States don't have this many features, they may have one or two or maybe three, but here it's just non stop obstacles and challenges. Like I said the challenge isn't just riding it, it's riding it at full speed. But I definetly think that is is a course on which North Americans will do better at then Nommay. That is if we can stay healthy.
Tasha is recovering from her gastro illness but still not 100%. We'll have to take it one step at a time.
Even though we were too cheap to buy gifts for each other, or anyone, we did get a gift from Wendy Simms. Tupperware. Sweet, now I can bring my oats to the race!
We'll definelty remember Wendy when we go to Brugges, we know her weakness.
Tot ziens.(Good bye)
So today woke up to a little trainer ride, then out the door to pre ride the World Cup in Zolder. What a polar opposite of the World Cup in Nommay. This course is fast!
The course starts off on pavement, obviously, takes a couple crit corners on the pavement before throttelling some fast ground/sand. The pavement transitions past the pits for the first time, which is the good side to pit from and doubles back on itself before entering the first set of roller coaster uphill kicker climbs that are very sandy. The climbs are slightly hard to get over and then shoot you down the back side of them violently onto the pavement where you must turn quickly and hit another kicker then face some off camber sand, uphill, more sand, up and down over some roots, up again towards a chapel, steep, fast downhill, chicane turns, blast down a straight away, and over a woop. The course then gets really tricky.
There is a really tricky, sandy muddy uphill left hander, flattens out a bit, with some mud and lots of bumpy ruts and you have to really punch it to get over another hard right onto the top deck. There is a litte respite in a closed pavement section before a brutal loose sand downwill that your momentum carries you to a 3 meter wall that must be about 60 percent gradient that you have to dig your toes into to climb up. Once you get over that you fly down to one more 180 degree downhill right turn onto the sand, then they built a massive metal ramp to throw you onto the start finish which you make one more right hander before the finish. Man, I'm out of breath all ready. So the challenges of this course will be to ride as much as possible full throttle with the hands glued to the top of the bars and just pretend that I don't have brakes, for the most part. I think as long as you commit to the sand, the bike will find its way down and the 30, 000 spectators will probably be motivation enough to ride fast.
This course is a little more like the type of course I am used to, fast, speed, power. The main difference is that you always have to be thinking and completely dialed in and focued. As well courses in the States don't have this many features, they may have one or two or maybe three, but here it's just non stop obstacles and challenges. Like I said the challenge isn't just riding it, it's riding it at full speed. But I definetly think that is is a course on which North Americans will do better at then Nommay. That is if we can stay healthy.
Tasha is recovering from her gastro illness but still not 100%. We'll have to take it one step at a time.
Even though we were too cheap to buy gifts for each other, or anyone, we did get a gift from Wendy Simms. Tupperware. Sweet, now I can bring my oats to the race!
We'll definelty remember Wendy when we go to Brugges, we know her weakness.
Tot ziens.(Good bye)
Nommay to Christmas
So it's Christmas today, and a Merry Christmas to everyone at home. What's happening here on Christmas day. There are few gift openings going on amongst the others. Unfortunately Derrick and I didn't have any time to get each other even a little gift. We plan on getting something after the World Cup in Zolder tommorrow.
Since Nommay, not much has happened, except I got a stomach flu. Happened on Tuesday afternoon. I did my training for the day and then was freezing cold for the next few hours. I was in the house wearing a few layers as well as my winter jacket. By night time I was sweating up a storm and Derrick (as the nurse he is) refused to let me have any blankets. Once the fever breaks he never lets me keep warm. I spent all Tuesday night tossing and turning thinking I was going to be sick until about 5 am in the morning when I actually was. Christmas eve I spent most of the day in bed. I challenged myself to go to the pharmacy later in the day, but because all I had ate was pineapple juice and a couple slices of bread, it didn't work out that great. I was able to walk the block there, but once in the pharmacy things started spinning and I had to explain to the lady at the counter that I had to sit down before I passed out. I was planning on getting some groceries as well and maybe a little gift for Derrick but I had to sit at the pharmacy until I was ready to use all my energy to walk back home and then tell Derrick I couldn't do it, he would have to go to the grocery store to get the neccessities for the next few days.
We are off the pre-ride the world cup course in Zolder in few hours. Wish me luck that I have all my strength back as I am going to need it. I really don't care what I feel like today, but more that everything is there for the race tommorrow!
Best wishes and Merry Christmas to all our families and friends at home.
NCE
Since Nommay, not much has happened, except I got a stomach flu. Happened on Tuesday afternoon. I did my training for the day and then was freezing cold for the next few hours. I was in the house wearing a few layers as well as my winter jacket. By night time I was sweating up a storm and Derrick (as the nurse he is) refused to let me have any blankets. Once the fever breaks he never lets me keep warm. I spent all Tuesday night tossing and turning thinking I was going to be sick until about 5 am in the morning when I actually was. Christmas eve I spent most of the day in bed. I challenged myself to go to the pharmacy later in the day, but because all I had ate was pineapple juice and a couple slices of bread, it didn't work out that great. I was able to walk the block there, but once in the pharmacy things started spinning and I had to explain to the lady at the counter that I had to sit down before I passed out. I was planning on getting some groceries as well and maybe a little gift for Derrick but I had to sit at the pharmacy until I was ready to use all my energy to walk back home and then tell Derrick I couldn't do it, he would have to go to the grocery store to get the neccessities for the next few days.
We are off the pre-ride the world cup course in Zolder in few hours. Wish me luck that I have all my strength back as I am going to need it. I really don't care what I feel like today, but more that everything is there for the race tommorrow!
Best wishes and Merry Christmas to all our families and friends at home.
NCE
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Update from the 3390
The 3390 is postal code of where we are here in Tielt-Winge. It's kind of like 90210, except cold...and no palm trees...and no Dylan. Also, instead of nice cars everywhere, there are cycling shorts, jerseys, gloves, socks, underwear hung all over the house as there are 9-11 people, one laundry machine, no dryer and lots of mud. Although I am proud to say that we did get some sunshine today...so that was a nice suprise. I went for a nice 4 hour + ride today as when you're racing, you just feel like you don't ride a whole lot. Mainly cause although the races are so intense, I kinda forget about them the next day. It must have something to do with the primal brain not wanting to remember pain or something.
Our accomodations here arn't "luxurious" by any means. I don't know if it just doesn't really phase me cause a) I'm a guy b) this place is comparable to my place in college c) I'm a guy and I don't care that there are 50 pieces of laundry hanging in our bedroom. Seriously, who cares, really. Ok maybe I would like it if there was a little hot water for showers, but for what we are paying to stay here, it's not bad, the people around us are great, it's home for now and it's Belgium, so we didn't expect to have rose petals thrown at our feet.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the riding in Belgium. You ride for ever and you end up 20 minutes from home. No matter what I do, I end up 20 minutes away from home . It's crazy.
There's always something happening, never going in a straight line for more than a few hundred meters. Around here as well there are a few escarpments and it's possible to climb them from 20 different directions, swear to God. The other thing is, tons of people riding...but never fast.
Maybe it's all base for them right now... or they are secret computrainer junkies like us.
I'd say we are getting ready for the World Cup Friday, but that's not really true. We got ready for that months ago if you know what I mean. We will most likely go ride it Christmas day, that will be our excitement.
DSJ
Our accomodations here arn't "luxurious" by any means. I don't know if it just doesn't really phase me cause a) I'm a guy b) this place is comparable to my place in college c) I'm a guy and I don't care that there are 50 pieces of laundry hanging in our bedroom. Seriously, who cares, really. Ok maybe I would like it if there was a little hot water for showers, but for what we are paying to stay here, it's not bad, the people around us are great, it's home for now and it's Belgium, so we didn't expect to have rose petals thrown at our feet.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the riding in Belgium. You ride for ever and you end up 20 minutes from home. No matter what I do, I end up 20 minutes away from home . It's crazy.
There's always something happening, never going in a straight line for more than a few hundred meters. Around here as well there are a few escarpments and it's possible to climb them from 20 different directions, swear to God. The other thing is, tons of people riding...but never fast.
Maybe it's all base for them right now... or they are secret computrainer junkies like us.
I'd say we are getting ready for the World Cup Friday, but that's not really true. We got ready for that months ago if you know what I mean. We will most likely go ride it Christmas day, that will be our excitement.
DSJ
Monday, December 22, 2008
World cup 6 Nommay France
We woke up yesterday to the phone in the hotel ringing. Was it a wake up call, no way. It was Stef , in the Lobby telling us we needed to come down for anti-doping blood test. I guess that's what happens when you stay in the same hotel as the Belgians. So, other than that it was buisness as usuall. We get to the course and it we knew it was going to be a shit show of mud. So no worries up to here.
Start of the womens race, I'm super chilled, relaxed trying to take some pics. I see Helen and she's in third...I wait a few seconds later I see Natasha in 9th...holy moly! I run over to the other side of the course, I see Natasha run through the pit and grab her bike off the side of the fence. We forgot to tell Stef that Tasha's kit was white and green, she has been wearing Cyclery blue and red kit all week for training as she only has thermal stuff in that kit. As it was just Stef and Jurgen in the pit for Wendy, Tasha, Helen and Gabby, I just thought it was too much for them and I thought that most likely I would not be in the top ten on this day , so I ran to the pit and assumed full control of Natasha's bikes. I knew if she saw me she would have full confidence that EVERYTHING WOULD BE OK. I'm sure it would have been ok, cause those guys are great, but I had to make a decision quick. So, Tash rode really well and we got the job done. She got caught by a group of 6 and battled back and forth, but slapped herself in the face on the last lap and squeeked out a 13th spot, which was really good in the 1st World Cup in these conditions, all things considered.
Maybe that wasn't the greatest warm up for my race. But I was semi-realistic about my chances on this course, I thought I could have a go, since there were alot of power sections and being a small guy some of the course suited me. But truthfully if you've ever seen me ride you'd notice that I stand up a lot and sprint out of corners, well there wasn't a whole lot of that yesterday. I probably sprinted in the wrong places, it's kind of like trying how to ride a bike again. It sounds easy, but all the places you choose to use your energy on a sloppy course really add up.
So I started off pretty good considering a 6th row start. I was right behind Trebon on the 1st lap, I thought I was ok until #36 dude plows his pedal into my front wheel and scrubs all my speed and breaks three spokes. I keep on going but the rim is rubbing and it's not great. I loose about 20 spots cause of this and next lap get the second bike. I was riding ok, when I get up to sprint out on the gravel and my derailer hanger rips in half and the derailer goes flying into the back wheel and brings me to a complete stop. I pick up the bike, run, assess the damage quickly, put the bike down for a second to try and roll it but the back wheel was jammed. Urggg. Leg shering run on a gravel path, which felt so long. Get the other bike inthe pit, with no front brake and a warped wheel and slug on for the next 20 minutes.
Part of me almost said...you know what this is not the day for me. But I'm pretty stuborn so I just whiped the spit off my face and pushed the pedals for as long as I could as hard as I could until I got lapped just before the leaders were on their last lap, another minute and I would have made it -1 lap. Not really the result I was looking for. But ironically enough I fought like a dog to come 50th and pass 2 guys in last little bit...which gives me a whopping 1 World Cup point, as the points go to 50. Unknown to us, start money this year is paid out in accordance with World Cup points and not UCI points, so yesterday we didn't get anything to start or for travel. But With my "one point" I'm on the list now and depending on who shows there is still a chance.
Moral of the story...fight. Even though it seems like you are loosing the battle, fight because you may not feel it at the time, but when you look at your muddy face in the mirror, you can say you did what you could and walk away with no regrets. If I would have eased up on the last lap I would have been so mad at myself for not pushing through when everything was against me.
It was a hard one for sure. But I just felt like a rabid squirrel looking to get his last nuts before the winter storm.
So we are content with Tasha's 1st WC this year. It's good, but we need better than good.
For me, well I'm happy I still know who I am. A scrappy little squirel from Cornwall, bud.
Ok, time to assess the damage to the bikes. Word.
DSJ
Start of the womens race, I'm super chilled, relaxed trying to take some pics. I see Helen and she's in third...I wait a few seconds later I see Natasha in 9th...holy moly! I run over to the other side of the course, I see Natasha run through the pit and grab her bike off the side of the fence. We forgot to tell Stef that Tasha's kit was white and green, she has been wearing Cyclery blue and red kit all week for training as she only has thermal stuff in that kit. As it was just Stef and Jurgen in the pit for Wendy, Tasha, Helen and Gabby, I just thought it was too much for them and I thought that most likely I would not be in the top ten on this day , so I ran to the pit and assumed full control of Natasha's bikes. I knew if she saw me she would have full confidence that EVERYTHING WOULD BE OK. I'm sure it would have been ok, cause those guys are great, but I had to make a decision quick. So, Tash rode really well and we got the job done. She got caught by a group of 6 and battled back and forth, but slapped herself in the face on the last lap and squeeked out a 13th spot, which was really good in the 1st World Cup in these conditions, all things considered.
Maybe that wasn't the greatest warm up for my race. But I was semi-realistic about my chances on this course, I thought I could have a go, since there were alot of power sections and being a small guy some of the course suited me. But truthfully if you've ever seen me ride you'd notice that I stand up a lot and sprint out of corners, well there wasn't a whole lot of that yesterday. I probably sprinted in the wrong places, it's kind of like trying how to ride a bike again. It sounds easy, but all the places you choose to use your energy on a sloppy course really add up.
So I started off pretty good considering a 6th row start. I was right behind Trebon on the 1st lap, I thought I was ok until #36 dude plows his pedal into my front wheel and scrubs all my speed and breaks three spokes. I keep on going but the rim is rubbing and it's not great. I loose about 20 spots cause of this and next lap get the second bike. I was riding ok, when I get up to sprint out on the gravel and my derailer hanger rips in half and the derailer goes flying into the back wheel and brings me to a complete stop. I pick up the bike, run, assess the damage quickly, put the bike down for a second to try and roll it but the back wheel was jammed. Urggg. Leg shering run on a gravel path, which felt so long. Get the other bike inthe pit, with no front brake and a warped wheel and slug on for the next 20 minutes.
Part of me almost said...you know what this is not the day for me. But I'm pretty stuborn so I just whiped the spit off my face and pushed the pedals for as long as I could as hard as I could until I got lapped just before the leaders were on their last lap, another minute and I would have made it -1 lap. Not really the result I was looking for. But ironically enough I fought like a dog to come 50th and pass 2 guys in last little bit...which gives me a whopping 1 World Cup point, as the points go to 50. Unknown to us, start money this year is paid out in accordance with World Cup points and not UCI points, so yesterday we didn't get anything to start or for travel. But With my "one point" I'm on the list now and depending on who shows there is still a chance.
Moral of the story...fight. Even though it seems like you are loosing the battle, fight because you may not feel it at the time, but when you look at your muddy face in the mirror, you can say you did what you could and walk away with no regrets. If I would have eased up on the last lap I would have been so mad at myself for not pushing through when everything was against me.
It was a hard one for sure. But I just felt like a rabid squirrel looking to get his last nuts before the winter storm.
So we are content with Tasha's 1st WC this year. It's good, but we need better than good.
For me, well I'm happy I still know who I am. A scrappy little squirel from Cornwall, bud.
Ok, time to assess the damage to the bikes. Word.
DSJ
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Averbode
Well it wsn't a race, but it was some sweet training. Gary brought us down to Averbode for a Cross training session. The boys at home would love this! It's basically a parc with a chapel on top of a big hill and cross trails all around on every side. Across the street is a sand field. UP hill and downhill off camber, ruts, lines, whatever. I think my heart rate went to danger danger level trying to plow through. Word is lots of guys use this this as their technique/skills area. They just had a race there a few weeks ago so the lines are all still there. IT's wicked. Plus it's a good 40 minutes there, so get lost a few times, hit it, ride back, four hours later it's supper time. But that wasn't the most painful part of the day. They had Jurgen come to do some massages. 6 Euros for 30 minutes, can't beat that! If you think racing is Europe is hard you should try getting a leg rub, ouch, I almost told him to take it ez, but I just bit my tongue...now I may have to go see an Oral facialmaxial surgeon to fix the hole I made in my tongue, but legs will be good in a few days. I bet tommorow's ride will suck!
DSJ
DSJ
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
In Tielt-Winge
Long story, I'll make it short.
Flew Sunday night, read half a book De Niro's game, watched Batman, fell asleep, got to London, read some more, flew to Brussels. Marc Boudreau and Ed picked us up, we agreed to bring an extra bike since Ed got hit by a car the other day. They were nice enough to give us a ride to Tielt-Winge...which is not to be confused with Tielt...in the other end of the country, which I would have took the train to if we not had a ride which would of been a huge disaster. So feeew.
To our suprise, Betty and Garry a very cool couple of California who are friends of Barb's are here, they graciously cooked us a great dinner with Andre. Met the Wyman's and crew, Stef,Helen, Gaby. Talked shop with Aaron Schooler, hit the sack. Today coffee, lots of it, bikes are almost done, Tash did the groceries, more coffee, some sprint training.
We got some great contracts for our starts here in Belgium and Luxembourg and that's about it for the last 18 hours.
DSJ
Flew Sunday night, read half a book De Niro's game, watched Batman, fell asleep, got to London, read some more, flew to Brussels. Marc Boudreau and Ed picked us up, we agreed to bring an extra bike since Ed got hit by a car the other day. They were nice enough to give us a ride to Tielt-Winge...which is not to be confused with Tielt...in the other end of the country, which I would have took the train to if we not had a ride which would of been a huge disaster. So feeew.
To our suprise, Betty and Garry a very cool couple of California who are friends of Barb's are here, they graciously cooked us a great dinner with Andre. Met the Wyman's and crew, Stef,Helen, Gaby. Talked shop with Aaron Schooler, hit the sack. Today coffee, lots of it, bikes are almost done, Tash did the groceries, more coffee, some sprint training.
We got some great contracts for our starts here in Belgium and Luxembourg and that's about it for the last 18 hours.
DSJ
Saturday, December 13, 2008
DSJ and Tasha selected for Worlds
Hey, so we got the official email, saying we both made the Worlds team. Cost of the project is going to be 1300$ per person without skinsuit. Wow. What ever happened to the best things in life are free. They have obviously never raced Cross.
We thought about maybe just buying one skinsuit and I can just let Tasha wear it and then I can wear it the next day. Ummm, ok maybe we'll splurge and just get one each. I've been know to be able to fit in skinsuits of all sizes, anywhere from medium to x-small, but it's a little bit of a stretch.
So today is training, packing, Christmas with in the In laws, common laws, and outlaw out of control God son who is playing hockey behind me right now and taking slap shots with what looks like a cat toy. We have to miss the Cyclery party as this was the only way to see our families until February. And although having a couple beers does sound enjoyable, it's business as usual and the holiday cheer will have to wait until after Feb 1st. My secret mission is to get Natasha to dance after Worlds. She hates it. I've actually only heard her sing once and I tried to show her how to dance once but it was short lived. You may not know this but I love my techno. Especially the Belgian DJ Tiesto. But hold up, I've been listening to Tiesto longer than I have been doing Cross, I didn't even know he was Belgian, until I got his DVD live in the Gelderdome.
Since it's Christmas and all I'll give some secret training tips away.
If you ever need to do a three minute efforts, just download He's a Pirate by Tiesto. If that doesn't get you pumped, you need to take the day off. Maybe a week. But you'll feel like you want to go to the Club after. I think that's my problem right now, I maxed out on Tiesto this morning.
But this song can only be used for 2 minute to 3minute intervals as it may cause you to go way too ballistic. If you don't do intervals, just listen to this song and this is how I feel the lap in a cross race. I'll warn you, you may never be the same after listening to this track, it's that good.
Ok so fingers crossed we leave tomorrow. Lord give me patience in packing the bikes.
Serenity now.
DSJ
We thought about maybe just buying one skinsuit and I can just let Tasha wear it and then I can wear it the next day. Ummm, ok maybe we'll splurge and just get one each. I've been know to be able to fit in skinsuits of all sizes, anywhere from medium to x-small, but it's a little bit of a stretch.
So today is training, packing, Christmas with in the In laws, common laws, and outlaw out of control God son who is playing hockey behind me right now and taking slap shots with what looks like a cat toy. We have to miss the Cyclery party as this was the only way to see our families until February. And although having a couple beers does sound enjoyable, it's business as usual and the holiday cheer will have to wait until after Feb 1st. My secret mission is to get Natasha to dance after Worlds. She hates it. I've actually only heard her sing once and I tried to show her how to dance once but it was short lived. You may not know this but I love my techno. Especially the Belgian DJ Tiesto. But hold up, I've been listening to Tiesto longer than I have been doing Cross, I didn't even know he was Belgian, until I got his DVD live in the Gelderdome.
Since it's Christmas and all I'll give some secret training tips away.
If you ever need to do a three minute efforts, just download He's a Pirate by Tiesto. If that doesn't get you pumped, you need to take the day off. Maybe a week. But you'll feel like you want to go to the Club after. I think that's my problem right now, I maxed out on Tiesto this morning.
But this song can only be used for 2 minute to 3minute intervals as it may cause you to go way too ballistic. If you don't do intervals, just listen to this song and this is how I feel the lap in a cross race. I'll warn you, you may never be the same after listening to this track, it's that good.
Ok so fingers crossed we leave tomorrow. Lord give me patience in packing the bikes.
Serenity now.
DSJ
Monday, December 8, 2008
RI day 2 DSJ 3rd, Elliott 2nd
Where to begin? We awoke to a few cm of snow and some brisk weather. You'd think that the course would have been sloppy. But somehow it wasn't. We had Natasha roll the first warm up lap on her 34 Grifo's. They felt awful to her so she did a lap on the Shwables, the muds felt better, so we had her roll on the Dugast Rhynos. You'de think seeing the snow, what looked like really muddy conditions, slick course this would have been the tyre of choice. But it was as if the course was changing every 15 minutes. Tasha just couldn't get the tyres/pressure right. She did a bike change at a perhaps inopportune time and the pit was really slow entrance and exit due to the fact that it was off camber. Laura VG capitalized on this and Tasha rode consistent and clean to come 2nd once again. We talked about how this is what "experienced" really means. Sometimes you make poor equipment choices and you don't feel good on the bikes, it feels all wrong. The positive aspect is that a year ago we could have put mountain BIKE TYRES ON HER BIKE AND SHE PROBABLY COULDN'T HAVE NOTICED THE DIFFERENCE. So Tasha is becoming quite savvy at knowing what equipment is working and what isn't. It probably didn't help that we had to do some last minute adjustment to her bike in the hotel room and in the parking lot as well. This was a course where if you didn't have full 100% confidence in your gear you were screwed. Perhaps I should have insisted a little more that I thought she should run higher pressure yesterday. I was actually going to play a trick on her on put a little more air when she wasn't looking, but then had this vision of her biting it over the frozen roots and I thought naaah, maybe I'll just let her do her thing. She usually gets it right. I figure we best brush up on our excuses before heading to Europe, cause there it is very chic to blame "a big week of training" or "poor tyre choice" as the reason you did not win. Also when it is too hot or too cold, that is always accepted. The best one I have heard lately is "it was so cold, my eyes were frozen, I could not focus and I could not see therefore I had to abandon".
My race. Well I'm not sure if you read the race report on Cycling news.com but trust me it was a lot more exciting than they would have you believe. If I would have written it, it would have said things like "DSJ laid some massive attacks down, most notably a full throttle sprint from the pavement onto the uphill barriers where he flew over the barriers as if lifted by Santa's Reindeer bound to deliver the gifts of smack down to all the Cross fans for Christmas". Yah for sure something like that. So anyways it was great to be racing like that. We had a group of about 8 guys or so racing around for the lead. Guys took turns throwing their attacks in, taking the lead. I decided to run just under 30 PSI in Gomm Italia "magnums" (I like that name, magnum sounds serious). Maybe it was a tad bit much in the front, cause once it started snowing I thought I was screwed, but the course really reminded me of a Belgium course and it was just sandy, not muddy at all. Anyways I took full advantage of some of the road sections throttling it down as hard as I could, for as long as I could. This worked well to shred guys off the back, caus e it was a little twistier than the previous day. There were a few times I had a gap on the chase group and actually started believing that I could really win it. I felt like the New Englanders were teaming up on me a bit, cause as soon as I let off the throttle Driscoll punched it and they let him have his gap. It was as if they were programmed to let this guy have his gap. As soon as I could I attacked and got a gap, I made a bobble and two guys came around me. I was sure as heck not going to finish forth again. We hit the beach and I was in 4th. But I just ran as hard as I could to get around Myerson. I actually ran so hard I felt my face being pulled to the back of my head. This was an interesting sensation. I thought Spinelli was going to bobble and I was waiting for him to make a mistake in the last half lap but he rode really well and clean and I just scrubbed the last corner a little too much to have any chance of coming around him in the sprint. So I ended up 3rd. Maybe I played it a little too safe by not trying to over both guys at once, it may have cost me second place, but I really really didn't want to finish 4th again. I've been trying to get back on the podium since Alberta.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=/photos/2008/dec08/nbxgp2_08/nbxgp2_082/amen125
Overall I was really pleased my racing. More so than day 1. I felt like I rode my brains out on day 1, rode harder but with my brains in on day 2. If you know what I mean.
Thanks to Alex Sanna for pitting for us. It was a huge help. Even though I didn't need a bike it's nice to know that the support is there. Alex just launched his business and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend his services. He was kind enough to donate his services to us this weekend as his contribution to our campaign in Europe.
Also I love hearing people telling me that I'm "putting the hurt on". Rick Meloft managed to scream my name in between sips of beer. Again, it's just one of those things, when you have the support and you feel like people believe in you, you just believe in yourself that little bit more, you dig a little deeper, you squeeze every last possible amount of power into those pedals.
I just pushed so hard I was trying to rip the cranks off the bike and snap the chain.
I know I've said this before, but the support we have recently had from all the community in Ottawa and Ontario has really inspired me. I feel like there is fire in my riding now. When I'm hitting the the intervals in the basement during the week I imagine that all those people who showed to Mooney's to help us out are helping me squeeze out that extra little bit that are making the ordinary into extra-ordinary. So next time we race, it will be in France at the World Cup in Nommay.
Ready ,set, go, here we come.
DSJ
My race. Well I'm not sure if you read the race report on Cycling news.com but trust me it was a lot more exciting than they would have you believe. If I would have written it, it would have said things like "DSJ laid some massive attacks down, most notably a full throttle sprint from the pavement onto the uphill barriers where he flew over the barriers as if lifted by Santa's Reindeer bound to deliver the gifts of smack down to all the Cross fans for Christmas". Yah for sure something like that. So anyways it was great to be racing like that. We had a group of about 8 guys or so racing around for the lead. Guys took turns throwing their attacks in, taking the lead. I decided to run just under 30 PSI in Gomm Italia "magnums" (I like that name, magnum sounds serious). Maybe it was a tad bit much in the front, cause once it started snowing I thought I was screwed, but the course really reminded me of a Belgium course and it was just sandy, not muddy at all. Anyways I took full advantage of some of the road sections throttling it down as hard as I could, for as long as I could. This worked well to shred guys off the back, caus e it was a little twistier than the previous day. There were a few times I had a gap on the chase group and actually started believing that I could really win it. I felt like the New Englanders were teaming up on me a bit, cause as soon as I let off the throttle Driscoll punched it and they let him have his gap. It was as if they were programmed to let this guy have his gap. As soon as I could I attacked and got a gap, I made a bobble and two guys came around me. I was sure as heck not going to finish forth again. We hit the beach and I was in 4th. But I just ran as hard as I could to get around Myerson. I actually ran so hard I felt my face being pulled to the back of my head. This was an interesting sensation. I thought Spinelli was going to bobble and I was waiting for him to make a mistake in the last half lap but he rode really well and clean and I just scrubbed the last corner a little too much to have any chance of coming around him in the sprint. So I ended up 3rd. Maybe I played it a little too safe by not trying to over both guys at once, it may have cost me second place, but I really really didn't want to finish 4th again. I've been trying to get back on the podium since Alberta.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=/photos/2008/dec08/nbxgp2_08/nbxgp2_082/amen125
Overall I was really pleased my racing. More so than day 1. I felt like I rode my brains out on day 1, rode harder but with my brains in on day 2. If you know what I mean.
Thanks to Alex Sanna for pitting for us. It was a huge help. Even though I didn't need a bike it's nice to know that the support is there. Alex just launched his business and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend his services. He was kind enough to donate his services to us this weekend as his contribution to our campaign in Europe.
Also I love hearing people telling me that I'm "putting the hurt on". Rick Meloft managed to scream my name in between sips of beer. Again, it's just one of those things, when you have the support and you feel like people believe in you, you just believe in yourself that little bit more, you dig a little deeper, you squeeze every last possible amount of power into those pedals.
I just pushed so hard I was trying to rip the cranks off the bike and snap the chain.
I know I've said this before, but the support we have recently had from all the community in Ottawa and Ontario has really inspired me. I feel like there is fire in my riding now. When I'm hitting the the intervals in the basement during the week I imagine that all those people who showed to Mooney's to help us out are helping me squeeze out that extra little bit that are making the ordinary into extra-ordinary. So next time we race, it will be in France at the World Cup in Nommay.
Ready ,set, go, here we come.
DSJ
Saturday, December 6, 2008
RI day 1, Elliott 2nd, DSJ 4th
Another one in the record books.
Day 1's course was fast, fast, fast. Tasha jumped out to a good lead and Laura Van Gilder crawled her way back up to her and they played a follow the leader game, Tash let off the gas with two to go, but just couldn't find anywhere to put down the power or prove her technical prowess. She thought she could cut the last corner and jump around her for the sprint and almost got her. Good news Tash sprinted stride for stride with the champion sprinter, but could just not pull around her to seal the deal.
Going into today, knowing that the course was going to suit me I was pretty confident I could lay some smack down. So I fired on all cylinders from the get go and got the hole shot, took the sand first held my gap until the pavement and perhaps, no make that definitely took the wrong time to ease up on pedals, race winner Driscoll got around and about 6 other guys, someone bit it in front of me and Driscoll was off. I managed to pull my way back to second and tried everything in my power to close it to the leader but we just couldn't get the gap under 12 seconds. I did alot of work, too much. I was trying to race for the win. But the other guys were pretty happy to sit on and play it smart. I attacked about an Octtotrillion times but couldn't do anything but shred guys off the back. It was good to actually be in the race today. I'm sure if I would have waited a little, instead of just trying to crush it, I would have got my podium. We ended up in a 4 up sprint and I just couldn't close out of the last corner.
So I was about 1 second out of second, but ended up 4th. The good news is that these points put me over the 125 needed to officially qualify for Worlds. There was a time I wasn't 100% sure if I was going to go. I didn't just want to go cause no else was going. But now I 've met a few criteria for going and feel pretty confident that I can represent our Nation in a positive manner. I wanted to make sure I was going to be 100% committed to racing to my full potential in February. I feel like my form and technique are still improving, the results are getting better and now I want it.
Also recent events have transpired that will allow both Natasha and I to give a 100% focused effort in February knowing that we will take the rest of the month off and start back into training into March. I've been taking some flack for this recently as there were a lot people saying that I should just go to Worlds. But it is just something that I don't just want to do. Don't get me wrong I'm not making it the be all end all of racing, cause I can just imagine that it will be B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Most likely I will not win. I'm sure it's different for everyone, that's ok. We're all in it for different things. The level of support both Natasha and I have had from the cycling community, sponsors, generous individuals (Sugar Daddy JH, DT and BG) I just didn't want to abuse the resources that were given to us.
Well that's about it. Oh yah, I got some new AXE pomade today. I think that my start was due to the fact that I had really really cool hair under my helmet, like Zoolander meets Tigi Bed Head. Although I had my podium hair done prematurely. Perhaps tomorrow I will just pack the pomade and apply it after racing for pictures. We'll see, it did feel pretty great to get the hole shot today and it was clearly related to this new styling pomade so maybe I will just apply a light amount and be prepared to finish the styling procedure after.
DSJ
Day 1's course was fast, fast, fast. Tasha jumped out to a good lead and Laura Van Gilder crawled her way back up to her and they played a follow the leader game, Tash let off the gas with two to go, but just couldn't find anywhere to put down the power or prove her technical prowess. She thought she could cut the last corner and jump around her for the sprint and almost got her. Good news Tash sprinted stride for stride with the champion sprinter, but could just not pull around her to seal the deal.
Going into today, knowing that the course was going to suit me I was pretty confident I could lay some smack down. So I fired on all cylinders from the get go and got the hole shot, took the sand first held my gap until the pavement and perhaps, no make that definitely took the wrong time to ease up on pedals, race winner Driscoll got around and about 6 other guys, someone bit it in front of me and Driscoll was off. I managed to pull my way back to second and tried everything in my power to close it to the leader but we just couldn't get the gap under 12 seconds. I did alot of work, too much. I was trying to race for the win. But the other guys were pretty happy to sit on and play it smart. I attacked about an Octtotrillion times but couldn't do anything but shred guys off the back. It was good to actually be in the race today. I'm sure if I would have waited a little, instead of just trying to crush it, I would have got my podium. We ended up in a 4 up sprint and I just couldn't close out of the last corner.
So I was about 1 second out of second, but ended up 4th. The good news is that these points put me over the 125 needed to officially qualify for Worlds. There was a time I wasn't 100% sure if I was going to go. I didn't just want to go cause no else was going. But now I 've met a few criteria for going and feel pretty confident that I can represent our Nation in a positive manner. I wanted to make sure I was going to be 100% committed to racing to my full potential in February. I feel like my form and technique are still improving, the results are getting better and now I want it.
Also recent events have transpired that will allow both Natasha and I to give a 100% focused effort in February knowing that we will take the rest of the month off and start back into training into March. I've been taking some flack for this recently as there were a lot people saying that I should just go to Worlds. But it is just something that I don't just want to do. Don't get me wrong I'm not making it the be all end all of racing, cause I can just imagine that it will be B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Most likely I will not win. I'm sure it's different for everyone, that's ok. We're all in it for different things. The level of support both Natasha and I have had from the cycling community, sponsors, generous individuals (Sugar Daddy JH, DT and BG) I just didn't want to abuse the resources that were given to us.
Well that's about it. Oh yah, I got some new AXE pomade today. I think that my start was due to the fact that I had really really cool hair under my helmet, like Zoolander meets Tigi Bed Head. Although I had my podium hair done prematurely. Perhaps tomorrow I will just pack the pomade and apply it after racing for pictures. We'll see, it did feel pretty great to get the hole shot today and it was clearly related to this new styling pomade so maybe I will just apply a light amount and be prepared to finish the styling procedure after.
DSJ
Friday, December 5, 2008
Skids
I guess you can think whatever you want about that title. Maybe you think of skids of wood or palats. Maybe you think of the band Skid Row. Or maybe you just think of skid marks (not in your shorts) but the kind of skids you can make with your back tire. I'll get back to that.
Maybe I spend too much time in my car thinking. Today was no different. We're chugging down the Interstate to Rhode Island, Tasha's asleep and I'm listening to some old, old old, Bob Marley. It was disk 1 of the four disk set Songs of Freedom, which I bought about 10 years ago, and honestly it's the best 60 bucks you'll ever spend. Disk 1 is Bob before he had dreads young. It's some pretty funky stuff. But for whatever reason it just hit me. I know why I ride. It's about Freedom. Ok, I know Bob's chants are way deep talkin' bout Revolution, war, equality and such, but when I hear Bob, it just reminds me of a time when I was a lot more carefree, it reminds me when I first fell in love with the bike. Makin skid marks when I was 7 years old!
My friend Scott Gordon and I would make a line in our babysitters driveway and we would race to the line and throttle our BMX bikes pedals backwards and try to carry as much momentum as possible in our "Skid Mark Competition". He clearly had an advantage, cause not only was he much taller , but a year older. I remember the trick was to skid as far as you could with all the momentum you had then keep on shifting the rear end in a tail whip kind of motion to generate some more momentum to get the longest skid. You could always tell where you lost momentum though, cause the skid mark would deviate towards the side and look all snaky. Some times we'd get a little carried way and rip a skid on my Babysitters neighbour's lawn. He'd get pissed off and chase us around. So I guess this is when it all started. I may say I've only been racing for a few years, but this thing started a long time ago.
I think the funniest time was after I had just got my first BMX, a Tonka. My dad put it together after my parents bought it for me at Christmas. So I'm maybe like 6 years old or so, I'm not sure, but anyways I'm so proud of this cause the bike I had the year before had training wheels, so I'm ready to rip some skids once the snow was melting. Well we go out to the driveway, I go to pull the mother of all skids and the frigin handle bars come flying off the bike I get airborn and smash my face on the gravel driveway and worst of all my rubber boots go flying, maybe just one of them. I think Scott laughed so hard he pissed his pants. So you got Scotty full of pee, me crying my butt off full of blood and face full of stones and the neighbors wondering what the heck is happening....
Shoot that was funny. That's why I love riding my BIKE. BLOOD,SWEAT, TEARS and URINATION, EVRYTHING YOU NEED FOR A GOOD TIME!
So yah that was our trip down to RI, I'm sure Tasha was dreaming about...well I'm not sure what she dreams about, probably riding the computrainer or her SRM or something.
We pre rode the course, then went to Subway for a salads and had the guy warm up our our rice. We got a few looks as we were still in our kits and tasha had brown tall leather boots over her blue Cyclery thermal kit. THe guy at the Stop and Shop actually asked us if we were bicyclists or joggers. I said I was a balerina.
DSJ
Maybe I spend too much time in my car thinking. Today was no different. We're chugging down the Interstate to Rhode Island, Tasha's asleep and I'm listening to some old, old old, Bob Marley. It was disk 1 of the four disk set Songs of Freedom, which I bought about 10 years ago, and honestly it's the best 60 bucks you'll ever spend. Disk 1 is Bob before he had dreads young. It's some pretty funky stuff. But for whatever reason it just hit me. I know why I ride. It's about Freedom. Ok, I know Bob's chants are way deep talkin' bout Revolution, war, equality and such, but when I hear Bob, it just reminds me of a time when I was a lot more carefree, it reminds me when I first fell in love with the bike. Makin skid marks when I was 7 years old!
My friend Scott Gordon and I would make a line in our babysitters driveway and we would race to the line and throttle our BMX bikes pedals backwards and try to carry as much momentum as possible in our "Skid Mark Competition". He clearly had an advantage, cause not only was he much taller , but a year older. I remember the trick was to skid as far as you could with all the momentum you had then keep on shifting the rear end in a tail whip kind of motion to generate some more momentum to get the longest skid. You could always tell where you lost momentum though, cause the skid mark would deviate towards the side and look all snaky. Some times we'd get a little carried way and rip a skid on my Babysitters neighbour's lawn. He'd get pissed off and chase us around. So I guess this is when it all started. I may say I've only been racing for a few years, but this thing started a long time ago.
I think the funniest time was after I had just got my first BMX, a Tonka. My dad put it together after my parents bought it for me at Christmas. So I'm maybe like 6 years old or so, I'm not sure, but anyways I'm so proud of this cause the bike I had the year before had training wheels, so I'm ready to rip some skids once the snow was melting. Well we go out to the driveway, I go to pull the mother of all skids and the frigin handle bars come flying off the bike I get airborn and smash my face on the gravel driveway and worst of all my rubber boots go flying, maybe just one of them. I think Scott laughed so hard he pissed his pants. So you got Scotty full of pee, me crying my butt off full of blood and face full of stones and the neighbors wondering what the heck is happening....
Shoot that was funny. That's why I love riding my BIKE. BLOOD,SWEAT, TEARS and URINATION, EVRYTHING YOU NEED FOR A GOOD TIME!
So yah that was our trip down to RI, I'm sure Tasha was dreaming about...well I'm not sure what she dreams about, probably riding the computrainer or her SRM or something.
We pre rode the course, then went to Subway for a salads and had the guy warm up our our rice. We got a few looks as we were still in our kits and tasha had brown tall leather boots over her blue Cyclery thermal kit. THe guy at the Stop and Shop actually asked us if we were bicyclists or joggers. I said I was a balerina.
DSJ
Monday, December 1, 2008
Eastern Ontario Finale!
Well...I don't know what to say. THANK YOU. Thank you to everyone who showed up to race, donate and even just watch.
Bob and Ian, we are ever gracious of these two fine men who agreed to name the last race an event to help us. The course was great once it got petered down a bit, lots of 180's really technical.
I was so happy to see that the Sun sent Andrew to take some photos and put a little story in the OTTAWA SUN
http://www.ottawasun.com/Sports/OtherSports/2008/12/01/7586916-sun.html
Ok, so maybe it's not the New York times or Velo News, but it's pretty cool (notice the editor?).
So racing in the snow was interesting. I was a little humbled that I fell so far back after taking myself out on an icy turn and having my chain do a very peculiar thing. It took me 2 laps to figure out how to ride the snow. Don't think I'm getting all soft, but seriously, a race like that really brings a smile on your face, it's just fun. Most of the time the racing is just way too hard to have fun, but yesterday was fun. I wish I could have gone all out yesterday, but I really just wanted to mess around. Knowing that was one of the last chances I had as from here on out it's all business.
Strangely enough yesterday gave me some perspective on some things. It has really taken me a long time to not always feel like I have to prove myself when I'm at home. I mean it's always full gas when we are on the road, so when we are home we are most likely training a little harder, and I just never really seem to go 100%. But it's taken a long time to realize that I am not my performance and that it does not define me if I don't win. I would like to win, don't get me wrong it's just not a win at all costs attitude. I don't sacrifice my performances to come for one that does not define me. Sounds heavy, but it's like that.
DSJ
Bob and Ian, we are ever gracious of these two fine men who agreed to name the last race an event to help us. The course was great once it got petered down a bit, lots of 180's really technical.
I was so happy to see that the Sun sent Andrew to take some photos and put a little story in the OTTAWA SUN
http://www.ottawasun.com/Sports/OtherSports/2008/12/01/7586916-sun.html
Ok, so maybe it's not the New York times or Velo News, but it's pretty cool (notice the editor?).
So racing in the snow was interesting. I was a little humbled that I fell so far back after taking myself out on an icy turn and having my chain do a very peculiar thing. It took me 2 laps to figure out how to ride the snow. Don't think I'm getting all soft, but seriously, a race like that really brings a smile on your face, it's just fun. Most of the time the racing is just way too hard to have fun, but yesterday was fun. I wish I could have gone all out yesterday, but I really just wanted to mess around. Knowing that was one of the last chances I had as from here on out it's all business.
Strangely enough yesterday gave me some perspective on some things. It has really taken me a long time to not always feel like I have to prove myself when I'm at home. I mean it's always full gas when we are on the road, so when we are home we are most likely training a little harder, and I just never really seem to go 100%. But it's taken a long time to realize that I am not my performance and that it does not define me if I don't win. I would like to win, don't get me wrong it's just not a win at all costs attitude. I don't sacrifice my performances to come for one that does not define me. Sounds heavy, but it's like that.
DSJ
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