Lifestyles of the Pink and Famous

Moving Time!

2010-11-23T12:28:00.000-05:00

Our blog has moved to http://derrickandnatasha.wordpress.com/ check it out!

Eastern Ontario Cross Action

2010-11-22T16:39:00.003-05:00

Sorry that there have not been a lot of updates lately. We ve been busy trying to sort out a bunch of stuff.

First off, wicked race last weekend held by the RWR crew. The venue was great, the competition was intense and the course design was outstanding.

The young guns of the area were in full effect as they were givin' their all to take home the massive trophies. Luckily we were able to take the hardware home and put in some great racing in a low key environment. Not sure if you saw the videos of the race on www.kriswestwood.wordpress.com but he also did an awesome job in recapping the weekend.

The OBC crew didn't lest the Ottawa city ban of cross races get them down, they held the race in Renfrew at the fair grounds, it was great choice. This series is also evolving. I really like the way it has a few tape off sections, a more of a staggered start and the course length is close to what we see at any UCI race. There were a couple really cool elements in the course that I was not expecting. Even Mc Neely put up a great fight and I could actually hear him breathing down my neck. It was great to be able to watch Tasha in the same race as well. Which by the way she won the challenge. My challenge was to try and lap her, her challenge was to stay on the same lap...so I m washing the toilet for a month, and believe me, when you eat as much vegetables as we do that is not fun.

If you are racing in the cold...the glove to get is the LG CX Kevlar, it was the perfect choice, first off it looks cool, cause it's white...secondly no problems shifting, hands stayed warm.

Also rocked the LG Plastron with wind protection, then the LG compression long sleeve thermal under my skin suit, LG Thermal underwear and I was golden racing in -4 degs.

I know it sounds lame, but thanks to all the guys who stood in the cold, to chat to cheer, to race. It was a great few weeks at home, we definitely appreciate all the support from the community.

I didn't think that I went that hard yesterday, but I missed the exit for Cornwall...

We got home and I threw some wood in the wood stove now all our stuff smells peperoni.

DSJ

Hammertime

2010-11-10T10:15:00.003-05:00

SO this weekend is the RWR Hammer and Anvil cross race www.ridewithrendall.com.

I expect some stiff competition as some of Canada's best riders will be there.

Come by and race, watch or say hi.

I promise that the race will be entertaining.

After the race, Shawarma Palace Rideau street here we come.

Nationals and then some

2010-11-08T08:11:00.002-05:00

So Nationals has come and gone. And as much as Derrick and I thought those Jersey's would change our lives, well they don't. You win some and you loose some. I really did think it was my time to finally be racing and representing Canada as the national champ. I suffered off the bike for 6 months with health issues and took care of everything before I began training again. I'd made sure my body was going to be able to handle it and at the start of my season I wasn't thinking about any National title. I was just happy to be racing, but then it started to happen, my racing got better, I began winning races and getting better results than before. I thought this year was going to be the year and for all my suffering and pain off the bike, not only thinking that I might never ride again but the fact that I might never be healthy and happy again, that this nationals was going to be some magical day. Sure it wasn't a given but leading up to the race I thought my chances were really high.

The day wasn't meant to be for Derrick and I from the moment we woke up. From the rotten soy milk I had purchased the night before and was going to drink it before the race until I smelt it. To forgetting our electric pump charger at the hotel when we arrived at the course. Also to straying from my normal warmup and doing something different. To even changing my training the two weeks before thinking that it would work better to what I had been doing and was working great so far this season. What was I thinking. As that list goes on, so does the list of bad luck events off the start line of our races. I was shocked at the series of bad lucks, and verbal abuse that happened in the first 1 minute of the race. Then the crash in front of me which I somehow in a split section chose to ride over the riders bike and not the rider as she sprawled herself over the corner of the course. Which later lead to my seat post completely snapping in half, I thought something was a little off after it happened and then one little bump and snap. Everything played out in my head for the next 24 hours. But regardless, the mind and the legs weren't working in sync like they usually do.

As much as we both didn't want to race on Sunday, it was the only right thing we could do this weekend. Sure our legs and minds weren't even 100% on day 2 after tossing and turning all night, but it was nice have a little bit better day.

The greatest thing about this nationals was all the lessons I learnt, it's kind of how the season has been going. I think cause maybe my legs havn't fully came back from my illness, that my body is just saying go for it everyday this season and everything you learn in the process will stored away for the rest of this season and even better for next year.

Also the even greater thing about nationals was all the love/hugs and support we got from our fans, family and friends. Even though we complained to them or maybe cried on a few shoulders, it didn't matter, they understood completely. It showed Derrick and I that even though these people knew those Jerseys' were right there for us, they still loved us for having an off day at the office.

So part 2 of the cross season is about to begin. Everything happened for reason and it means for a few changes for the rest of our journey, but most importantly to only change the things that are not working not the ones that are. It's still a long season with Glen's Hammer and Anvil races, then off for the finale of the NACT series is Massachusetts, as well as UCI races in RI, then just a little low key stuff after that, like world cups and world championships.

My horoscope on Sunday said not to regret or get mad at time. Just to move on, don't try and make time stand still or go back as it will get you no where. Forget, move forward and believe in the greatest things to come.

What is a Snuggie!

2010-10-27T10:16:00.004-04:00

So apparently I haven't been home on a weekend to chill out and relax and watch tv and see all the amazing tv commercials of what great things you can buy now a days. Just 5 minutes ago I saw something for a Snuggie. Man these things could probably sell at a cross race :). For those cold races, just wrap yourself up in a snuggie and then your hands are free to still ride your bike. They also would be very convenient at my parents house, as they like to keep the heat really low all winter long.

This week was great. Got to recover from two seriously hard days of racing in Kentucky. If you want to see how hard I went, just go to cyclingdirt.org from the Saturday race and watch at about 40 minutes. See me cross the line and then fall down like a turtle being flipped. What you can't hear on the video is Derrick coming over and telling me to get off the ground. I went so hard I didn't know anything that was going on. Then as I was down on the ground I had like 5 camera's around taking pictures, it was pretty funny. Anyways I have forgotten how hard I went those two days but not by too much as I have put all my efforts into my training this week. It's been going really well and this year I'm trying the complete opposite of what I have done the past 3 seasons for Nationals. Maybe it will work, maybe not, but what ever happens, I just want to been crossing the line saying I couldn't of gone 1 second faster or pushed 1 watt harder.

Kentucky was great prep but my racing was far from perfect. The first day I went ballistic off the start to crash and loose my 5 second lead that I opened up in the first minute of the race. I regained composure, crashed again, but then got a gap on the chase and finished 2nd. 2nd day I doubted myself a little bit and didn't think I could put in a good day again. In the first lap if I had only realized I was riding faster than day 1 maybe things would of went better. The videos don't give me justice cause as I was within 3 seconds of Georgia the announcers thought I was someone else, but no that was me chasing her down. Again some bad luck with not being confident enough on all the work I have put in this year in a short period of time. Even though I was closing on the first place, I became more concerned with what was going on behind, stupid, stupid me. I crashed more times I could count and each time I looked behind more and more until finally a mechanically left me loosing 30 seconds and dropping back to 8th. I picked myself up and ended up almost catching 3rd with 1 lap to go and then bobbled a bit to end up 4th.

How many times I have been mad at myself this week for Sunday's race can be more than one could imagine. Each time my races have been so so this year, I have beat myself up about it. Why am I so hard on myself, considering I was quitting racing in May this year during my illness, I have no idea. In years of past, I don't think I have ever picked apart my races like I do now. Maybe I know that I can do better or I should have more confidence, who knows, maybe I'm just searching for that one perfect race where everything lines up and I am unstoppable!

NCE

Kentucky

2010-10-25T09:31:00.002-04:00

Morning,

just getting ready to pull out of Findlay Ohio.

Saturday Tasha was on fire, she claimed her first USGP podium, she got the whole shot, had a 10 second gap , bobbled a bit in the sand, Gould passed her, and she could not match Gould, who would have most likely would have won any race on the planet that day.

I started like...I started like I don't know but it wasn't the best. Anyways, Pit bull to work and plowed through all the way to seventh, fought with Jamey Driscoll of Cannnodale and I hit a post and thought I broke all my ribs, Jones passed me and I finished 9th. I was happy with this this, not hitting the post, but the ride.

Sunday Tasha almost had Georgia, she really went for it, that was the plan, to just give'er. She went so hard she absolutely lost her mind and started riding into stakes, dropping her chain, and just being too frazzled. But hey, she tried her best for three laps to try and catch Georgia, the reports don t give it justice, it was insane to see her so fired up, she just went a little too deep into cave and it cost her a few places.

I had a great start, but just could't relax my upper body as my shoulder was giving me grief and I was grabbing handfulls of brake in the first lap, I was in about 8th, but some sloppy riding and I finished 12th.

The course is awesome, this is the 2013 World's venue, course will be different, but it's gonna be great...Louisville is a great city, wish we could have stayed longer, thanks to our hosts/pit crew/course builders/volunteer/racer Dwayne and his wife Michelle, and former host John R for the additional pit crew, hopefully next time we can bring a mechanic and don t have to leach off you guys.

Ok, Tasha wants to go to Walmart to get a yoga video.

DSJ

2 days in Toronto

2010-10-18T09:39:00.004-04:00

So back on this side of the border for some racing in one of our favorite venues in Toronto. We like this race, cause it's kind of home, well closer than most races, this time of year you get some good cross weather, not blistering hot, like 30 degs in Ohio, but not frigidly cold that as soon as your done you have to get out of dodge. It's great to chat with people that we don't get see very often and it's a pretty relaxed setting.

Maybe it was a little too relaxed the first day, as Natasha was a little behind the 8 ball. I'm not going to say that she didn't race well, she raced ok, but it's cross right, you put forth an ok performance you'll get an ok result. She finished 2nd on Saturday. She was forced into racing a different race, racing more defensively, almost scared. Saturday night she looked at me and said, "I'm not racing full out, this is gotta change".

Sunday, she put on her game face and she did her race, man, what a 360. To go from the nail, to the hammer in 24 hrs. I was fired up. I saw her ride in warm up and I knew that the fire was burning, she threw a match on it and I tried to poured the kerosene.

Jon Safka, cycling news photo

She rode awesome. I saw the lines, through the corners, on the off cambers, big steps through the sand, fluidity over the barrier and lots of pain in the pace...perfect.

For myself, Saturday ended up being a little bit of a cluster, crashing all over the place, having barrier tape fly across the course into my gears, almost taking out Alex in the first bike exchange, pushing so hard up the hill that I unclipped a pedal on a 20% gradient...but I struggled, fought back, found composure and put in a solid day.

Sunday was much better, it was a race. I lead most of the race and dictated the pace, put the attacks in and was relentless, I hammered over the hill through the drop off and bobbled, causing Davide to attack and could not match his acceleration after this. But I know it was a race, yah I went so hard that I forced my error, but eventually it would have been him who would have dabbed and I would have done a similar thing...

But it was 56 minutes of pain...today I know I raced when I woke up. Sometimes after a so so race on Sunday, I think I can't wait to better the performance next Saturday, today I thought, holly shit, it's gonna take me at least 48 hours to physically recover from this effort and probably 5 days to recover from the effort mentally, good news is that should work out just fine. This is what I wanted, this is what I got, there is no doubt in my body and mind that once I recover I am better and stronger than before.
Jon Safka, cycling news photo

So funny that on paper, 2nd place both days looks the same, but it's like the difference between Ultegra and Dura Ace, they look the same, but clearly not the same.

Strong Belgian Ale Beer Label

2010-10-05T19:48:00.007-04:00

So here it is, the beer label. It's probably the coolest thing I've ever had the opportunity to be involved with as far as bike racing goes.

A friend of the photographer (Chip) facebooked me Friday evening and I was able to meet both Chip and Rob on Saturday before my race in Gloucester. All the credit for the photo goes to Rob Bauer. Check out all his photo's at http://doublehop.blogspot.com, he takes some pretty awesome shots.

The beer is a limited edition brewed by John Harvard's Brew House (http://www.johnharvards.com/index.shtml). It's a small chain restaurant with locations in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York. There will only be 10 bottles or so of it made, mainly for the upcoming race tomorrow night in Shrewsbury, Ma. It's called The Night Weasels Cometh. If your interested in the race you can go to check it out. I think online registration is over, but they do take day of registration. http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=11740

I am fortunate enough to get one of the beers and it will be saved for my Dad and brother in law. I might hold a bidding war between them to see if they can pay for my trip to Europe this winter!

Thanks to everyone involved to make this happen as well as special thanks to Steen Sawyer, the General Manager at John Harvard's Brew House. I'm truly honored that you chose me to be a part of this.

NCE

Gloucester Day 1 and 2

2010-10-04T10:27:00.007-04:00

So, we are back home again. Got in late (1:30 am), but not feeling that rough today. Mandatory day off should be good to get things organized in the house again, lots of bike cleaning for Derrick and house cleaning and groceries for me.

Thought I write a little race report on day 1 and 2 of Gloucester of how things were shaping up. It was absolutely awesome. Day 1, like Derrick said shifting problems off the start, a little bit of no race sharpness left me digging deep in the first lap or 2. But I made it to the front group only to be dumb enough to stay on the back of it and keep getting popped off and then crash and pop off again. I saw myself trying to pass in the wrong sections and just getting boxed out and losing all momentum. My race sharpness was awful. Then I rolled a tubular but fortunately right before the pits and ran in grabbed my bike from Alex Sanna (are awesome pit supporter for the weekend) and came out probably in 20th as it was 2 laps into the race and still all together. Then it happened. I just got all this fire, and moved through the field. The months of suffering and being sick and thinking I couldn't ever be where I was before all became a distant memory. Sure enough I never made it to the front 2 but I got with 4 seconds on 1 to go. It was so close and the crowd was going crazy for me. In my mind it was like I was winning the race.

I ended up 3rd and the congrats I got after the race from the announcers and people I knew and people I didn't was amazing. If they only knew what kind of things happened to me in the last year and that in May I said I would never race my bike again.

The race was also a valuable lesson of how you can be going terrible in race for the first few laps and have everything go wrong and still come back from it. When I was in 2oth or so, I didn't think for a second it was over, I just put my head down and tried to do the best I could do from then on out, hammered the off camber straight aways, jumped out of the corners, came in with speed and exited with speed, I rode every section the way I wanted to. Here's me in the hunt for the 2 leaders:

These are the kinds of lessons that pay off huge when you race on an even bigger scale in Europe and at the World Cups.

Day 2, I wanted it and I tried, but again, not a great start and I was fighting to be on the tail end of the lead group again. I thought I was having trouble with the run up, but then after watching a video learnt it was the line I was taking, the long road which was also looser dirt and harder to get traction. I never got to lead the one section I wanted to, from the run up to the barriers and fast down towards the pits. So, then I tried attacking early, a little too early, another tactical error. I got a gap twice only to get reeled in as I never got out of sight enough. Then of course the 3rd attack done by Meridith was the one that went. There were certain sections that I was not riding well hanging in a group as I would come in with lots of momentum in the corners only to fly up into the wheel of the rider in front of me and scrub all my speed for exiting the corner. I needed to lead it but just didn't pick the right times or spots to go. I was in a fight for 2nd but couldn't get to the front of the group of 3 and was closing gaps for the last lap or 2. Ended up 4th, which I seem to racking a lot of these places up this year. I'm sure Saturday's efforts paid there toll on me a bit, but I still gave it a go on Sunday and fought hard and tried to get away.

Derrick came in 11th day 2 and although he raced much better, he still ended up having a better placing in the first day. It's crazy how that happens, but he was happy with his efforts for the day. Both in the men's and women's fields it is so close at the top, that a couple people have a bad first day and then come on strong the second and vice versa. The results can change day to day and it's all about having a day when you feel good as well as a little luck and riding the right lines. It's also becoming a lot more tactical on dry fast courses. The women's racing is progressing and for us to race in more of a pack than the men's race is awesome to see. That doesn't happen too often in women's racing, but let me tell you it makes it way harder to ride your lines and you have to fight for it every step of the way to not let someone pass you. I think we spend more time in the lead group taking each other out than anything.

So I'll take the 3rd and 4th from this weekend and remember the long term goals and go from there. I'm coaching myself right now and I know the work I've done and what is planned over the next few months. It's kind of a cool feeling to really understand what the real point is of your training and where it is going. I also have been trying different days off during the week (there is always one day off every week) and just seeing how my body reacts to them. I'm experimenting this year, sure I'd love to have a coach, but for right now I didn't want to commit myself to a strict plan until I knew how my body would recover and react after almost a year of being ill.

So to some it up, great weekend. Gloucester always feels like home and I always get treated well there by the organizers. We had awesome host housing offered to us last minute as a few changes were made and everything worked out great. The races this weekend brought out some great competition with some of the best roadies and mountain bikers from North America. I knew tactically the races were going to be super hard with a former US national road champion and Laura VG with more career wins than probably the field added up together.

You can check out the videos from this weekend on cyclingdirt.org. Colt does an awesome job with everything. I think he keeps on interviewing Derrick and I to keep the Canadian viewership high. Let me know what you think to them. It's fun to do them and I guess you hope people like them and see your personality but don't judge you too much. I'm sure people are going to get sick of watching me or hearing me say after every race it was a "great race". I guess that's what you say though if you are just so happy to be out on your bike again. I can't seem to wipe the smile off of my face. I just need to grit the teeth a little more on the starts and not let people in!

Thanks for all the people cheering for us this weekend, and all the post race congrats, it was awesome and truly meant a lot to me! Also to all our sponsors and supporters (everyone at the Garneau factory), Alex Sanna (http://www.soigneurraceservices.com/index.php), and friends and family.

Got to go, Derrick just mooned me from the window outside as he is cleaning bikes. Ha, ha, we may be tired but it's nice to see him having fun cleaning the bikes, until later tonight when he is on the couch at 8pm sleeping with slobber coming out of his mouth.

NCE

Gloucester day 1

2010-10-02T19:57:00.004-04:00

Hey

Quick little update. Traveled to Gloucester yesterday, arrived in a timely way..then started to ride the trainer...Tash said "let's go to the course"..so we rode to the course...she flatted, I rode the flat 20km in the pouring rain and it was completely dark. Oh well, it's all about perspective...

Tasha had crazy amounts of bad luck today, a shifter problem on the start line, then a a bad start, then rolled a tire, then ran to the pit, then managed to get up to third. She put in a great ride! got way too excited and half assed my warm up, so I was a little off the pace at the start.

I had a small little crash that cost me a bit and shook me up a bit as I went over my bars, but it's ok. It wasn't the best ride, in the top ten, but I kind of shut it down and I plan on going well tomorrow...picked up 40 $ in cash through the barriers, 20$ on the ground and 20$ out of a lady's mouth...gotta make a living eh?

So other than that...Tasha is gonna have her picture on a brand of beer, limited edition for Cross season...wicked, free beer, wooohooo!

Other than that, great weather today, I love it here, it's so nice, the Ocean, the atmosphere, the race, love it. Nice sun shine.

Oh yah check out www.cyclingdirt.org we are going to have a funny post race interview.

Ok...relax time.

DSJ

Check it out

2010-09-30T14:16:00.001-04:00

http://www.cxmagazine.com/2010-nact-season-continues-in-gloucester#more-14382

Yup, Gloucester this weekend. This is one of the best cross races of the year..I think there were 90 guys in the mens filed and almost 50 in the womens, that's a lot of people on 3km of track!

DSJ

Wednesday morning update

2010-09-29T06:19:00.003-04:00

Ever wonder where they get those cyclists to do ads and photos...wel I guess some of them are racers after all.

http://www.louisgarneau.com/lang_select.php

You can check out the specs on our new cross bikes on the LG website as well. Our b bikes are pretty much specked out like the retail high end version available to consumers.

http://www.louisgarneau.com/ca-en/product/381525/1303062/Cyclocross/STEEPLE-X_ELITE_BIKE

Which reminds me, Natasha will be selling her "A" bike from last year, the blue steeple x elite, size medium, with full dura ace, EASTON ecx 90 FORK.

Now that I think of it, she is also selling her LG MNT bike, size medium, XT and XTR, with rock shock SID, XT wheels, Kenda tubeless. It's in great condition as she rode the bike a grand total of 4 times! Send me a mail, derrickstjohn@hotmail.com.

So if you know anyone that needs a cross or mountain bikes, gives us a shout well be glad to give you a smoking deal on either.

Alright, now that all the buisness is out the way...

We did the Rochester UCI Cross race this past weekend. It was a a great day.

We basically decided that after Seattle and Vegas, we didn't want to do the trip to Wisconsin and totally blow our budget for the year in the first 10 days, not to mention that is alot of racing, travelling, logistics...so we penciled the Rochester race in, one day, four hour drive...it was

Tasha took her first win of the year. She got the hole shot and never looked back. True it was a smaller field than usual, but we used it as a bit of a training race, to work out some kinks and pick up some points and cash. Gotta make a living right?

I think I may have pushed it a little too hard Friday, as I was feeling bagged on Sunday before the race. I hate to say that I was counting the money before I even put my shoes on and sure enough it was a bit early for that. Another "fast guy" showed up and I had to put myself in a world of hurt that I wasn't really expecting just follow his wheel. He (Justin L) won the race the day before in New Hampshire, so I knew he is in top shape. We put on a great battle, jockeying back and forth, I attacked so hard a few times that I thought I face was going to explode and I began to really hate just how hard I could push myself for what seemed like an unusual amount of time. In some ways it was harder than going up Megantic...more like going up Megantic and getting off every now and then to run, and then somehow not eat shit in a crazy down hill corner...I messed it up a bit by pushing myself so hard that I came into a technical section in the wrong gear and had to dismount to not loose too much speed, he took advantage of this and I could not make that 5 seconds back and I had to settle for 2nd. Just goes to show you how hard it is to actually "win" races, show up 5% down and it makes it so hard to win. But I think it was a success in many ways, as to put in an effort like this for a "training" race, was awesome and the cash at this race was great, so with the exception of not getting the cool trophy it was a 9/10.

Admittedly I was nervous as hell cause I knew it was a great chance to win, but it will have to be another day. Great to see Tasha hit her stride again and just make it look so effortless, although I know she is giving it, she just has a way of making it look so nice. Plus after what we went through this winter, you have no idea what it means to both of us to have her not only on her bike, but on her game making her way back up.

DSJ

Vegas baby, your money baby

2010-09-24T08:23:00.005-04:00

Not sure if you've seen the movie Swingers, with Vince Vaughn, but I always think about that line when I hear Vegas.

Below, pic from Tim Gasperak, from Sunday's Rad Racing GP in Seattle...yah that's why I spent 4 hours cleaning bikes before our flight to Vegas...

Alright. So how dry is it in the desert? Nose bleed dry. Bone Dry. Dry Cleaners...ok that doesn't make any sense, but you get get the picture.

SO for me, I feel like I 'm really close to where I want to be. I finished 16th, which doesn't really sound all that great, but I was in the lead group for most of the race. The lead group of 16. Haha I was the first one to get popped off of it as I was at the back and Trebon's accelerations out of the corners were killing me at the back, definitely felt the elastic. There are times when I thought, holly shit I should have ridden my cross bike more than 5 times this year, but the technique and the fluidity will come over the next couple weeks, as my technique gets better as I race and get accustomed to my bike. I know it sounds dumb but the geometry on the new bikes is alot different, so I just didn't bother riding the other one too much, no sense in getting used to it, cause I had to change. Maybe I'm just lazy.

So back to the race, I was riding in the group and I was just making my way to the front when Driscoll attacked and I started to go up high and I was going to try and follow, but Tim J shut the door and I had to jam on my breaks and I ended up losing a few spots and being at the back of the train again. I just kept thinking..."feel like shit, must attack, feel like I am going to die, probably a good time to attack"...but I just couldn't quite get up there enough to launch it.

WE rode a pair of file treads I glued the day before...usually the tires take a day to dry, but cause there is no humidity, the tires were dry in a bout 3 hours, crazy. Anyways, probably would have helped to ride the files a few times, as I didn't really push them to their limits, but rode them respectably none the less. Great to be in the mix(for a bit) in this race, a few tweaks here and there and I'm in striking distance.

On the last lap two guys caught me, I had done so much work to ride by myself in no mans land for 3 laps and I wanted to fight for my spot. SO I'm running up the final Barriers and I hear a guy yell..."c'mon you ve worked so hard for this, if you don t do it now when are you going to do it". That was enough motivation for me me to just crank it up over the last km and crush the sprint.

It's really funny what you can take from small moments like that. Cause if you can't teach yourself to win from a small group fighting for table scraps, how are you ever going to win when the stakes are 10 times higher right? Anyways it the little things like that I believe are important to focus on when you are trying to progress to taking things to the next level.

So next time your in a little group , fight for those small spots, cause eventually, those small victories add up and could make the difference between landing on the podium or just off the mark.

Tasha rode well. She wasn't totally overcome with joy about her performance, but the race on the weekend and the travel, and the jet lag did kick in a bit, a little more for her than me. But her plan was come out strong at the beginning of the season, and get stronger. Where as in previous years she has come out blazing, and faded, the plan was to be on fire in November, so you gotta go with the flow.

Huge thanks to Phil Cortes and Pierre Perron (Director of LG USA) for standing in the pits and giving us a hand at the race.

No rest for the wicked as we leave again tomorrow to race the Rochester UCI race on Sunday, should be good times. A little bit of a smaller venue and race, but should be good none the less.

West Jet flight, Vegas to Montreal...less than four hours, and 3bike bags...0$...insane...West Jet is the way to go...seats were more comfortable as well.

DSJ

Seattle to Vegas

2010-09-22T15:39:00.002-04:00

Man, what a week. So busy, barely had enough time to breath before we arrived in Vegas.

We are staying in an absolutely breathtaking house in Vegas, the more you look at the intricate architectural nuances of this home, the more appreciate the fact that some one spent alot of time designing this place. Not to mention that our host family both families here on the West coast have been absolutely fantastic and in a strange twist, are both husbands are Anesthesiologists. What are the odds?

Speaking of odds, also time to double down tonight for the showdown in the desert. Gonna be fast,hot and fun.

Ok, I think you can check the race out on line but women's is at 8 pacific and men's 920...so most East coasters will be in bed.

DSJ

Star Crossed

2010-09-19T02:58:00.003-04:00

So we are just about to hit the hay, but I ll give a little blurb.
Got the new bikes Wednesday, i built both of them as the factory couldn't get them to us in time built, so i did em. Shit, ever build 2 bikes in a day, then take em apart and pack 4 bikes before a flight...long day.
Flew out to Seattle Thursday, paid an insane amount for bikes...can t even think about it makes me nauseous.
It's always raining here in Seattle, but it;s a really cool place. We are on Lake Washington, great view from he third level of our hosts house...who are really nice and generous, I feel like I live here.
Had the best Sumatra Aged coffee..so good.
Tasha raced first, opted for "normal" tires, but she crashed then grabbed the other bike with the muds and she was good, finished 5th, i think it will be up from here. She was happy with that as she s been away from racing all year so not quite sure how it would go.
http://www.cyclingdirt.org/coverage/237604-10-NACT-1-Star-Crossed-2-Rad-Racing-GP/video/356410-Natasha-Elliott-Post-Star-Crossed
I somehow managed to get my glove caught in a cassette or chain on the first lap crash, after i recovered, i put down what I would say was one of my better "muddy" rides, as i was 10-15 seconds behind a close battle for third, after I had to claw my way back from 20th or so.
I'm happy with this. I think i ll sleep well i ll take lucky 7 for the first one.
Im just not happy with the laundry and bike cleaning that will have to be done.
Star Crossed is an awesome race, wicked fans, awesome atmosphere, lots of fans cheering their brains out, good times. Have to say though racing at 8pm Pacific time is not easy though...i m more of a morning person.
K bye , I will eat some cabbage and go to bed.

DerRICKYism

2010-09-14T08:42:00.014-04:00

What exactly is a DerRICKYism it's when you are trying to say

something but say something else cause you are so messed up from training. You'll notice every now and then I forget to hit the spell check...sorry.
Anyways chaos this week getting everything sorted out...total panic at times...lots of frigin Vittoria glue all over my basement and lots of sweat on the floor below my computrainer and lots of mud tracked over our house from our new bikes...which are the bomb! Man they are Fantastich(DerRickyism). Huge thanks to all the people at LG for pretty much trying to bend over backwards to have all systems go by Thursday.

Lots of getting up at 5am to get the day going...but from the Ranch coffee taste pretty sweet watching this...

Up top a sneak peak of the new bikes, protoype kits, prototype shoes, and effects of my only eating cabbage and carrots and fish for a month.

DSJ

For pleasure or pain

2010-09-03T11:18:00.002-04:00

SO big little chunk of training done. My sisters wedding reception is tonight so I have a well deserved "off" day. Lately I've not been scared to really push the training a bit more and when I need to be off, I just take a day or two until I'm fired up and ready push myself extremely hard. For me this approach seems to be working pretty well, we'll know for sure in a few weeks.

Tash and i got out the other day to teach a beginners level Cross Clinic. I was surprised hoe hard it was to explain things and pic certain techniques apart, I mean I don't really think about jumping on or off it just happens...but it took a few years to make it effortless that's for sure, I remember plenty of bruises to the groin.

We're doing a more int/advanced clinic Monday. I have some surprises for that one.
Technique aside, in some ways Cross training hurts so much more than anything. You got an hour put all the suffering in to. I make myself do workouts that hurt really bad, but eventually I'm able to find the pleasure in the pain and them I'm on.

I read something the other day that I thought was interesting...the athlete says..."do the intervals have to be that hard?" Coach says"well in general to win in cycling it is hard, if you are not prepared to do this, perhaps this sport is not for you". Really there's not much more I can say.

Sometimes when I hear about the "sweet burn" I think of drink a nice glass of lemonade...but to me most of the time you gotta eat raw limes...the sweet pain is good but the sour pain separates the best from the rest.

DSJ

Cyclo Cross Clinics

2010-08-26T15:31:00.002-04:00

So just some quick updates on the clinics Derrick and I will be holding. I know we said we would be doing more blog posts, but our little ranch lost it's Internet and we are waiting for the service providers to set up an account again. A few more days and we should be back in business with more blog posts of silliness that you probably don't even want to read. Back to the clincs, please read below........

CYCLEFIT Cyclo-Cross Beginner and Advanced Clinics

For men, women and kids ages 10+

Cyclo-Cross: 2hr BEGINNERS clinic
Location: Strathcona Parc - Ottawa

Monday Aug. 30Th, 2010
5:30pm-7:30pm

Rate:
FREE for CycleFit CHICK members
$15 of all other participants

See below for Beginner clinic details

Cyclo-Cross: 3hr BEGINNER and ADVANCED clinics

Location: Strathcona Parc, Ottawa

Monday Sept. 6th, 2010
Beginners Cross Clinic - 12pm-3pm
Advanced Cross Clinic - 3:15pm-6:15pm

Rate:

$20
See below for the Beginner and Advanced clinic details

HOW TO REGISTER:

Email CYCLEFIT@ROGERS.COM

Information Needed:

Name
Email
Phone/Cell number
We will phone to confirm and then bill you via PAYPAL

Beginners Clinic: For those getting started in cyclo cross (0-2 years experience). We will be working on bike mounts/dismounts, the basics of clipping in and unclipping, crossing low barriers, carrying/shouldering bike and running with it, as well as cornering on various surfaces (gravel, sand, dirt, grass).

Advanced Clinic: For more experienced cyclo cross racers and have been doing it for a few years but need some tips and methods to practice and develop their skills further. We will be working on barriers with speed and how to keep your momentum, off camber riding, tight cornering on various surfaces (gravel, sand, dirt, grass), as well as steep hills and how to power over them with out getting off your bike.

Both Clinics: Will also discuss equipment, clothing and tire selection advice. Warming up for races, the best way to warm up as well as get a feel for the course, and cooling down. Any questions/discussions from clinic participants.
Also minor help in setting up bikes as it is slightly different to a road set up.

What to Bring:

Helmet
Bike and Equipment/clothing (even a MTB could be used)
Snack food and water bottle

About your instructors- Natasha and Derrick:

Natasha Elliott is a professional cyclo cross racer with Garneau Club Chaussures. In 2008 (her 3rd season of cyclo cross), she started to excel and really find her love for cyclo cross racing. That year she won 7 international UCI races across North America and her highest ranking was 16th in the World, she also placed 13th at a World Cup in France. 2009 brought even more success with bigger wins, including the Grand Prix of Gloucester double wins, considered the New England world's of cyclo-cross, the NACT series overall championship title and was ranked as high as 13th in the world. Back from an illness that kept her out of racing and training from last fall to this summer, she brings to the 2010 season even better form and expects to have even greater success. Through out her campaign she has raced on many different circuits in many different countries around the world. Natasha is very energetic with lots of tricks and tips she has learned through her cyclo cross career that she is willing to share with you. You can follow Natasha and her husband on their blog at

derrickandnatashathedynamicduo.blogspot.com

DERRICK ST.JOHN

Derrick St John is a professional road and cross racer with Garmeau. He finished 2nd at Canadian Cross Nationals in 2009 and stepped on the podium several times in the Verge series and Toronto Intl Cross. This year he also finished 2nd at the mount Megantic stage at the Tour de Beauce. Derrick will share tips to make you strong and has some unique skills that will amp up your cross riding.

NCE

Cross Schedule

2010-08-17T10:52:00.003-04:00

So, here it is.......The D and N's cross schedule for 2010-11 season. Still to be TDB is some of the stuff at the end as well as if it will go any later in the year and also into 2011. We are still waiting on the dates of Glen Rendall's Ride with Rendall cross races this year (The Anvil). I have heard that they are going to be pretty exciting races this year and we are definitely going try to make them fit with our Calendar.

2010-11 Cyclocross Race Calendar

DATE: RACE: PLACE:

Sept. 18/19 StarCrossed/Rad Racing, Redmond/Issaquah, Washington
NACT SERIES

Sept. 22 CrossVegas Las Vegas, Nevada

Sept. 26 Rohrbach's Ellison Rochester, New York
Park Cyclocross

Oct. 2/3 Gran Prix of Gloucester,Gloucester, MA
NACT SERIES

Oct. 10 OFF or OBC race Ottawa, Ontario

Oct. 16/17 Toronto International Toronto, Ontario
Cyclo-Cross

Oct. 23/24 Derby City Cup, USGP Louisville, KY

Oct. 31 OFF or OBC race Ottawa, Ontario

Nov. 6/7 Canadian National Toronto, Ontario
Championships

Nov. 13/14 OFF or OBC race Ottawa, Ontario

Nov. 20/21 Super Cross Cup, Southhampton, NY
NACT SERIES

Nov. 26/27/28 Bay State Cyclocross or Sterling, MA
Jingle Cross Rock (3 days) Iowa City, Iowa
or World Cup Koksijde, Belgium
TBD

Dec. 4/5 NBX Grand Prix or Warwick, RI
USGP Stanley Portland Cup Portland, OR
TBD

After December 6th TBD

There you have it, there's were the reigning 2009 North American Trophy Series Champion is going to be all cross season. Most notably what I like you to notice is that the OBC or off weekends. I will try and be out for one OBC race hopefully, but one of the these weekends is definitely going to be off and no race of any kind at all. It doesn't mean I can't come out to the OBC race and show my local support and cheer people on. All I'm saying is that a true champion learns from mistakes and this 1 or 2 weekends off this year will probably be the most important weekends of the year.

I'll let Derrick see it and then post in on the side bar, so you can follow us every weekend and check for results and updates.

NCE

MTL Que

2010-08-17T08:20:00.005-04:00

Ok, so I'm a little late on this one, but by blogging this now, it gives me a little time to prepare myself for today's workout...which looks like its going to hurt more than that race.

So, we had 9 guys on the start, full squad. The plan was simple, guarantee the Victory. That means, even if you are in a break you don't fully commit until you are 110% sure that you win.We had 5 guys in the race capable of winning, so race it accordingly and it will workout.

We let a small break go, then some others followed it, with one of our guys in the mix, Joel.

The gap got up to 4minutes plus, but no one really got too worried as the wind was such that we were rolling at almost 40 km/hr with hardly any pressure on the pedals.

As the race is PRETTY LONG 250KM'S, THE "REAL" racing usually happens after about 200 km and lots of guys fall apart much before that. But as most races in Ont are Que are <150km,so>

The boys got together once at the front early on to put everyone in the gutter...maybe about 80km into the race, so if you were on the wrong side of the split before the 50 meters of gravel, it was because we had the gas open on the front...funny enough here is that exact moment...

Look at the faces...pain man, pain.

Photo courtesy of Antoine Becotte

The race wasn't nearly as hard as usual and was slow at times. I think everyone knew that we were the team to watch, so we did have to race a bit negative here and there. I'm not a big fan of this and there are times where I have to really police myself as I'm use to attacking alot and just rolling as hard as I can.

after about 150 km or so we did manage to put 3 of us into the break of 13 or so, it rolled fairly well, until about 50km to go and a young guy from ORA by IF attacked, JS covered it, with a Josh Dillon(Bike Reg) and for some reason, the others guys in the break didn't chase it. I didn't really want to tell people how they should racce, but basically with 2 of my guys in the move, Aurelien in the pack, JS up the road, they had to understand that we had no interest in chasing, but the race is long and guys were getting tiered and I think the last thing those guys wanted to do was give me a free ride to 20 km from the line. Which would have been perfect for me as I knew the last 20 km so well and had every intention on crushing them had they given me an armchair ride.

But that didn't happen, the guys sat up, we got caught, and then I had to go to work as Aurelien was back in the mix and I knew without a doubt that if we brought the pack 5km to the line we would win for sure.

This is the part that is hard for me to do a little. As I cover all the moves and where as beofre I take my chances and roll away with let's say 3 guys and take my odds, I play team ate and set it up so he can guarantee the win. Good in lots of ways as it assure the team a win, which is important.

I know the importance in what I did, as I had control over the race and dictated the outcome.

WE raced really well coming into the finale km's, we had guys go solo, then we sent Miguel and James up the road, but the hill was a little too much for them.

I did get a chance to attack formyself at the top of hill with about 6km to go...with funny enough is right around this photo...

Photo courtesy Antoine Becotte.

Even funnier, well sort of is the fact that I had done the last I don't know how many km's with a front flat, as when I attacked, I felt the front tubular come right off the rim and the rim smash the pavement...it felt like I broke the wheel..I thought the tire was going to come right off.

If you look at the photo you can see the front wheel is flat, in Comparison to Aurelien's wheel, a few guys back.

So I gave(Aurelien) him the opportunity to get to 3km without having to do too much, Will attacks, he follows, I make sure no one else goes, and voila that's how its done.

Maybe you won't read about that anywhere, cause there wasn't any real good coverage of the race, but that's how it was done.

We should have tried to put another guy in the top 5 and one in the top ten to make some more money...but we would have look like jackasses if we didn't win. But we actually had to annihilate the whole team for Aurelien to win like that, so good job boys! He wasn't the only one that deserved the win, although his was the only pic in the paper, the whole team rode great to secure this one for Louis.

We did bugger up one satiation as a lack of communication, but the outcome was great, so maybe it worked out for the better.

Other race notes...I heard that Glen Rendall, my coach was in the break along with Mike Nash, I thought that was awesome...

Justin "Fester" Hall our rookie...was scared stiff at the start and finished ok, even took a few pulls. Matteo Dal Cin did a nice move at the end to attack and had I not jumped on his wheel may have had the winning attack..sorry buddy...you are too dangerous to let go.

The Jet Fuel boys rode awesome, Kevin Hazzard finish 9th which I would say is a great result...nice job.

Will Goodfellow was rewarded as that guy has a really nice aggressive attacking style, somewhat like mine, good to see that he got himself a podium.

And most impressive I would like to give myself a huge shoutout for not messing with my speed sensor as 1km in the race, my wheel magnet was not picking up and although I was tempted to move the sensor with my finger...it brought back the time I did that I ended up in the hospital in Trois Rivires...see that's why experience pays off...

DSJ

Fire

2010-08-13T07:47:00.004-04:00

I didn't change the layout of the blog. That was Derrick's idea. Now every time I look at it I have that techno song in my head "I got that fire, fire, fire.......on the dance floor." We'll change the words a bit and say I got that fire on the cross course.

It's very ironic that he put the flames up there as back in my CCU running days our coach use to talk some BS about the burning flame and the fire. I can't remember the whole thing that well cause a lot of things our coach use to say to us didn't make any sense at all. Sometimes I use to think he would tell us such nonsense just to get us fired up before the race and mad at him.

The other day one of my teammates from CCU found some pics from the old days and was able to scan them and put them on facebook. I leave you with some silliness of the week, check out these uniforms from like 1960. Now you probably don't think it's that bad racing a bike in a skin suit, do ya?

I'm in the pic hiding, I think in embarrassment. Also holding our sweats is US Olympic hammer thrower Amber Campbell. The second pic, I'm not in but I wanted to show a picture of our coach. That's him, Coach Connie, at the far left.

A fresh new start

2010-08-12T08:54:00.002-04:00

So I thought I'd get back into the swing of things and start blogging again, even though I never use to do it that much in the first place. No time like the present to start. Things have been going well in the new home at STAW, let me rephrase that, better than ever after a long winter and spring of illness. I never wouldn't of expected what has been happening lately, quite frankly if you asked me in May what I was going to been doing later this year, I might of told you that I would probably never race my bike again. Funny how things can turn around for the better.

It seemed very long from October to July for me, but some how I got threw it. While other people were getting ready for their cycling tours/races this past spring, I was doing the tour of the ER's in eastern Ontario. It's now all in a distant memory, thanks to my support crew of family and one of the best doctors I've ever seen. If anyone has any GI problems, let me know, as I know just the guy to see. I remember I had this analogy that I wanted to explain to my doctor about what not cycling meant to me to get him to really care about treating me. Funny enough this doc came to me saying it this, he took the words right out of my mouth. He said "imagine one day I had to stop practicing medicine and how that would effect me, it was what defined me and how would I go on in life."

This was all referring to how I was feeling when ill and I couldn't ride my bike. He also wasn't scared to tell me I wasn't sick anymore in July and things were going to be okay. I still had some issues (post infectious IBS) and it would take time/months to clear up but I was going to be okay. Another great point he made was that doctors are so scarred when they have had a patient sick for months to tell that they are better and the patient has a hard time adapting to life when they are well again as they don't remember what it means to be well. Ever since my last appointment in July and hearing all the things he had to say and letting one last cry out.......everything has been better than okay again.

I was not the only one in the Ottawa cycling community to be struck by bad luck this past year. My heart goes out to Jen and Allison. I think about them all the time in training and hope that they are just as successful as I am in getting better. They also motivate me to give it everything I have in my racing this fall, because at some points in your life you might be with out it. I don't take any training day for granted and know that it is a blessing to be able to do this sport again, but at the same time realize that it is not everything and other things are needed in life to balance it out.

Training is great, I've been able to think clearly again and when I'm out there training I have a ton of ideas of blog posts, etc. It's like old times again and my mind isn't filled with the thoughts of what is wrong, why am I sick and how can I get better the fastest. Now its all about how can I get faster on my bike, stronger, and take the lines better on my own personal cyclo cross course to be even faster. I'm being my own coach for now, mainly because I didn't want anyone else to train me until I was absolutely positive I could follow the program. I think things have been working out fine, I starting riding July 1st, got an OCA licence the week of the catsills race and then almost won the QOM jersey while at it, just one point off.

The race was fun and I couldn't wipe the smiles off of my face while suffering. My tactics were complete opposite both road stages. The first day I left everything too late when going for QOM points and never really sprinted as my timing was way too late. Second day I was way too early for all my attacks, if had tried the in between I think the end result would of been different. But it truly didn't matter as I really was just so ecstatic to be able to race my bike again.

I feel like a kid again, just starting into sports, the sky is the limit. Each day I feel stronger and somehow I get a little faster. While I wasn't riding for a few months, I started a little bit of jogging, but not too much to make me feel sicker. When I was feeling better but didn't want to commit to bike racing yet in June I started running, got up to 60-70 km a week. As I integrated the riding into my training in July I have kept a lot of running there. In the past, I would have never ran this much for cross, but it is keeping the training interesting and fun. Some of my workouts might seem a little insane to most, but from a former distance runner who went to University on scholarship for it, I don't think its that bad. And we might see a whole lot more running and dismounts on the cross courses this year with the new rules. I do remember someone last year (I think her name was Lynne Bessette or something) doing very well on a course that was very muddy and had lots of running. I think she was training a half marathon around this same time and not really riding her bike that much at all.

Stayed tuned for some more posts later this week of my to run or not to run and some of my insane workouts. Also I'll have some details on clinic that I'm going to doing before the cross racing begins. I'll post a race schedule shortly as well, pretty cool stuff on that front as I am being offering start money to race some races in North America. It's not a whole lot of money or anything, but it is pretty cool to have organizers emailing you begging you to come do their race.

I'm trying to get our blog viewer ship back up, so spread the word and give me any ideas of anything you want to hear Derrick or I rant or discuss about.

For now I must go train. Wait a sec, let me rephrase that, I'm going to go train not because I must, but because I would love to.

NCE

WSA

2010-08-09T09:11:00.003-04:00

So I know lately our blog has been kind of lame. I haven't really done much with it over the spring as when Natasha was sick, it was really hard to pretend everything was ok. I couldn't really write all these posts saying how everything was good, on the other hand I didn't want to be all doom and gloom.

So the plan is to get things going again as she kicking it up and getting ready to thrash it.

So there should be a lot more updates, anecdotal stories, and twitter updates.

This week was pretty hard for me, came off the Catskills race, then road Lachine, managed to do 5 plus hours in Sterling Thursday, hard computrainer ride Friday, 100 km Saturday, then race yesterday.

I wasn't tops yesterday for sure. Goes back to the 2% rule, you fatigue yourself just a little extra here and there, even just 2%, 3 or 4 times and all of a sudden your down 6%.

It's easy to know, cause yesterday as the race went on I started to come around...unitl the last corner when the only thing that didn't want to come around were the Vittoria's. Great tires, but they are a little temperamental, if they are a little over inflated in the rain, well, it's basically like skating...I should have checked the forecast.

We put Jamie Riggs in the break, and he ended up 4th...just off the podium. I think it's a good step for him, maybe one of the better results in a Quebec race for him? I let him role in the break as he did a great job last weekend rolling tempo, so he got his chance yesterday.

I've been in the break so much over the last few months, I actually forgot how easy it was to sit in the bunch, but the racing was on cusp of negative and I'd rather spend my day in front of the race most of the time.

Near the end though I was able to give some good gas and split off the front with a group , as the race was purely training, we were really hammering coming into the end. It was good to see the character of some of the guys and although we were only going for minor placings, the guys were racing really hard, which in my mind is one of the best ways to learn how to win races, get stronger and try to tear everyones legs off.

So I now this last little bit of a push I'm doing is going to have me going well in September and early in the Cross season. Then I'll be watching the wick on the candle burn til Novemeber.

Here's a shot of Natasha's sisters baby Milo...so cute. We tried to resist holding him, I told Tasha that she could catch Babyitis..but then her sister told her some pretty graphic stories of pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding so I should be good for a couple years. Anyways being an uncle is a pretty sweet gig, and it's more of a part time thing...

DSJ in West St Andrews

back to civilization

2010-08-04T12:10:00.002-04:00

Well its been a while, no internet , no cable living in the country can do that to a racer.
I got kid of sick after nationals..ok well not kinda, full on bronchitis. So had to skip Fitchburg. But I was due for some rest so we just tweaked it a little to use it as a mid season break...ah so nice.

We also moved to St Andrews West, which is north of Cornwall, so now we are really Country.
But its great, we love our new home. I don't really know who won the Tour as we were totally disconnected for a while.

I ve bee putting in good training, and I've landed on the podium at OBC, Tour of Quebec, Catskills and finished 4th last night at Lachine all well doing high load quality training. Aurelien (that French Guy) is going pretty well, so its been my job to cover late attacks and bring him to the line. No glory for me coming 4th, but the guy knows how to win races so I figure its good as I ve been able to race so incredibly hard as he has been cracking the whip on me that my form is better than it has ever been this time of year and i'm on track to be even better than I was at Beauce, and that was pretty good. Sometimes you almost have a take half a step backwards to get two steps forward.

I m really impressed by the entire team effort at Catskills...guys great job. Aurelien had the jersey and we rode to a tee. Very pro, on the front tempo all day, I cover dangerous moves and the last 15% of everything and drop him off at the line...it was a beautiful site to see the team riding in unity and just shutting down anything and everything. i have to say that the Devils Kitchen climb was tough, I think a race with circuits doing that climb 2 or 3 times would be the coolest though...either that or you may never want to ride again, ahah.
I did come 3rd in the TT, 4th on stage 1, then 4th in GC, lost 3rd by 1 second. I wasn't really that heart broken as I was riding for Aurelien and we won all the stages, the kom and the race, if I would have been selfish I would have jeopardized that. Just like last nite, I had the legs to win, but that wasn't the plan so...

I really enjoyed Lachine last nite, in the rain, it was fun. Really get to test the skills...

Oh yah...Natasha is back racing and somehow was 3rd on Devil kitchen climb...after only riding her bike for three weeks! She really is something, and I think we will all see her reach her true potential this year in Cross...three weeks of training and she finishes 5th overall in this hard ass race...yah that's all I am gonna say. Glad to once again be part of the Dynamic Duo.

D

Dogs on a plane

2010-06-30T10:21:00.002-04:00

Last time I checked, I didn't really think people could bring their dogs on the plane, but we were stuck beside a sneezing dog owner and a stinky pooch on the way pack from Edmonton.

Road Nationals proved to be an interesting race. The end result was ok, I ended up 12th, 9th in Elite Men. Not really the result I was aiming for, for I'm still happy with the way I rode up until about the 11the lap. I then let my emotions get in the way , wanting to win, getting frustrated, and I stopped applying logic. JS managed to come across to the original break as little groups were always coming up the road to congest the break. He was able to get in a chase group and then my hands were a little tied, I tried to go, but I couldn't bring a group up to his, so there it is. Considering how hard I rode to try and get across I m throughly impressed I could still put an ok sprint in to finish after 180km's.

I guess it just wasn't in the cards. We still had a good time in Edmonton, our hotel was quiet and I was able to rest alot, and it was relaxing after Beauce to just sit around.

After getting home from my ride yesterday Natasha showed me I was on the "long list" for the National Team Pro Tour races in September. I have to say it is a nice feeling. It's not a done deal yet, as it is the long list and does not guarantee that I will do the races, but it's close.

Derrick

Edmonton

2010-06-26T10:37:00.004-04:00

Today is Natasha's Birthday, as the years go on, somehow she manages to look the same and even though she hasn't been training she still has really nice legs...wait to go her.

Natasha's sister Katherine and her husband Chris, also have something to celebrate as they have just given birth to their first child, baby boy Milo. Which makes her parents grandparents and give us a new nephew.

Hugo won the U 23 ITT yesterday, so now we have a National Champ on our team, nice job Hugo! I opted not to do the TT as I wanted to go shopping and get some B day gifts for Natasha.
No seriously, I considered the racing we 've done, the trouble of packing and bringing the tt bike and accessories, considered the best case scenario and just thought it was better to skip it.

I celebrated a good Tour de Beauce at Louis' House Sunday after the Tour, he bought me a few huge beers and laid out quite the feast for the team at the club house. I was probably about 5 lbs heavier the next day but it was worth it.

So celebrations all around.

We are in Edmonton, relaxing at Comfort Inn. Hotel is ok, except for the curry smell of the Chinese restaurant downstairs.

Edomonton is pretty nice during the summer, it s a alot different than when we came to -13 in October for Cross Nationals.

SO I'd like to say that tomorrow is the big day, but it just doesn't feel like that. It feels like I had a bit of a holiday this week, sleeping, resting, watching reruns of CSI for hours on end. If anything maybe a little too relaxed.

What I've realized this year is that you can create your own reality, whether it be good or bad, so you just have to believe that everything will come together when the time is right.

Thats it.

DSJ

8 seconds from yellow

2010-06-22T08:16:00.005-04:00

To me it's all about perspective. I could look at the week I had at the Tour Beauce and think, man I was so close to achieving greatness, 8 seconds from winning one of the hardest stages in North America, 8 seconds from wearing a yellow jersey at a UCI continental tour.

But that's not totally the way I see it. I look at my performances leading up to the tour, taking everything in stride, not panicking, sticking to the plan, but modifying it here and there when I was really buggered. My coach Glen Rendall kept me on the right track, it's not like he gave me some kind of magic program, just lots of hard work, and when I was on the verge of cracking told me to ride to the coffee shop.

What I am most proud of is the ride I had on Wednesday. I made it happen. I covered attacks but missed the one that stuck. I started to go across to it...but even at 500 watts I couldn't catch them. The moto came by with the sign 1:30 to the pack....the break was almost a minute in front of me...maybe more...i was stuck in the middle. That was the turning point, maybe one of the most important moments of my cycling career. I thought I have 2 clear options...either I go for piss and let the pack catch me and try again on Megantic, or I wait till that massive climb in a few km and just give er'. In my head it was an eternity...seriously my world almost stopped for a second as I heard all the wisdom that has been passed through my ears over the years..."are you a BIKE RIDER OR A BIKE RACER"..."ALWAYS CLOSE THE GAP TO THE BREAK ON HILL"..."AT SOME POINT YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE SHITY LEGS, BUT YOU'VE TRAINED WITH SHITY LEGS"..."MAKE YOUR OWN RACE HAPPEN". So I went for it.

Tried to roll at eh same pace as the break, then on the hill clicked 2 gears harder and stood on pedals and pumped for 6 minutes. I caught the 5 guys at the top of the climb and to say they were shocked was an understatement...something like "how the hell..." in Italian and Ukrainian it was pretty funny. Jeff Louder from BMC asked me how I did it...I said I just rode hard..."that's impressive" he said.

So we held the gap at 3minutes and any time someone tried to go two hard or fast they would get sworn at in all kind of languages and Kobzarenko threw a water bottle at at Bjorn Papstein(2007 German mountain bike National Champ). I kind of got sucked into working in the break as it was in my interest to keep it a way. But I did manage to exaggerate my fatigue a little HERE AND THERE so I could miss a pull every now and then. As we approached Meganic, I didn't really have to exagerate it any more cause I was cracking a little. SO I eat everything I had left in my pockets, 3 gels, mushy wrappers, I may have even sucked on a gel wrapper that had 3ml of GU left in it.

I broke the race apart in my head, one race to Megantic, one race up Megantic...over and over in my mind. I knew last year it was just under 20 minutes to go up the beast. But this year

i just imagined it was a long driveway, it's just like going up a long driveway, that's all.

So we hit the bottom, the pace slowed, I knew the pack would be blistering at mach 4 behind, so I waited for the pitch and hit it. I held 10-15 seconds all the way up until about 150 metres, a United Health rider passed me and held my tail between my legs for second. Almost pulled the hugest result.

But I am happy with the ride I put. I made my destiny, I rode to my abilities using my head and my legs and by believing in myself. Yah the win would have been great, but I am 100% satisfied with my performance on this day, I could not have asked for more out of my organism on this day. That's not to say I won't strive for more, it just shows me that there is always room for improvement and little tweaks can be made to deliver phenomenal NATURAL performances.

The rest of the Tour was good, maybe not so great in the TT, but after Megantic, hey whatever.

So check mark beside Tour de Beauce. We leave tomorrow for Nationals, having a good Beauce takes the monkey off my back, so looking forward to what seams like a very interesting circuit.

Thanks to everyone on the LG team, Ch Leduc, France, Marc(mechanic), Emily (Masseus)at Beauce, my teammates, My Boss Louis, My coach Glen, my beautiful Finace Natasha, my parents, her parents, all whom believe in my crazy dreams and are a huge part in supporting me to make them a reality.

Breaking news - DSJ 2nd at TDB stage 3

2010-06-17T15:05:00.004-04:00

So I just have some amazing news. Funny, I haven't wrote on the blog for almost 7 months or so now. But I have something very exciting to say.

Derrick was 2nd at Tour de Beauce, stage 3 today. He went for it. I followed all day and knew the whole time something very special was going to happen for him. If he didn't win, I knew it would be close and he would almost die trying.

I had a blog post ready last night to put up about what has been going on with me and also how proud I am of Derrick and knew that the something was going to happen today. Obviously, I didn't want to jinx him and couldn't put it up.

It's been rough for me since last October, and somehow I magically started to get better just a week before the TDB started. I knew it was a sign from above. It was a hard time for both of us and Derrick deserves every bit of his success. He also gave me the inspiration today while I read about his time in the break to give my comeback a shot. Well let me rephrase that, I knew I was going to try to comeback all along, he just made me believe in myself today to think anything was possible and even though I haven't been riding for months now as I was really ill, today confirmed that I can do it and be even better than before. We'll call it the parasite effect.

So I'll spare you the details of what happened to me. I wanted to write on the blog about it a while back, but I wasn't getting better and I just didn't want to speak about it. I had no energy and my thoughts were just all over the place. I was kind of embarrassed about what was happening and almost had a numb feeling to everything around me. Nobody had any answers until 3 weeks ago, and then boom, bang, just like that my body has started to turnaround. I remember at the beginning I just thought I was burnt out, but no training didn't help. Now that I think back, I was stupid to think I was ever burnt out, I should of known something was wrong. I think to myself now, "do you have any idea of what you've done and accomplished in your life". I don't burnout, my nickname use to be the energizer bunny when I was in high school. Man I was dumb to believe in what some of the doctors I saw said. But I guess I never truly believed as I kept on searching for a diagnosis and finally got one. Somehow my same attitude towards racing never gave up, even though I thought I had given in, that internal strength was always there fighting for me.

Anyways, I think I can say it is over and I just want to keep the positivity flowing. I know it is not going to be easy and my body is not fully recovered yet, but that's going to be the fun part about getting going again. It's a whole new adventure for me in life. And now the dynamic duo can be the dynamic duo again and not the dynamic uno.

Oh yeah, did you know that party and parasites really sound alike. Maybe because when you have parasites inside of you, they are having millions of party's all around you as they take over parts of your body. Sucking the party life out of you!

Ok that's my joke, first one in 8 months, might be a little lame, but hey that's normal me coming back. And if you ever tick me off in a race, I know exactly what word I will use to describe you in my cycling dirt video after the race. It's the worst word you could call anyone, trust me I know.

Anyways, for Derrick, I am really proud of what you have done over the last little bit. You deserve every minute of it and thank you for being there for me. I love you more than ever and see you tomorrow.

NCE

Grande Visite de Gatineau

2010-06-13T20:29:00.002-04:00

Race Report. Started fast, tried to go faster, then tried to go fastest. Good enough for 7th on the day. Not bad. Would have been nice to squeak in to top 5 but the legs had a 7th in them so there it is. Great course, super fast, well organized. Perfect to have it in Gatineau.

Next up is Tour de Beauce. I'm in Quebec right now, we head down to St Georges tomorrow.

I'd love to blog it up, but it's time to rest a little, focus and save my energy.

DSJ

What it takes

2010-06-08T10:08:00.002-04:00

Just stumbled across this...
http://ibikeblog.com/?p=148It's
The guys at I bike wanted the power file from our win at GP Hudson, if you click on my ride file you can get all my "secret" training info and numbers...maybe not so secret anymore...haha.
Anyways, all the work I do goes into producing efforts like that, look it over if you're interested and next time you see me go off the front you'll know that I'm traying to stick it.

DSJ
Oh the pic they have is a cross photo, but I did indeed ride a rode bike that day...I'm not that strong. I'm just full of jokes today. Last thing, don't ever do the Tour of Connetecuit, there was an unmarked metal bridge in the third stage that took 30 guys down, sent 5 to hospital, forced the race to be sort of neutralized, but not really then the pack got lost an did 180 km km, instead of 145 and there were no podiums, and they send the prize money via pay pall...hate to say this but this race should never happen again and the organizer cut way too many corners to make it happen, as a professional it makes me sick to think of the danger we were exposed to.

Charevoix

2010-06-01T19:49:00.002-04:00

Where to begin...well we added a new member to our team. Aurelie Passeron. H rode with Saunier Duval and in 2008 he did the Tour de France. He crashed out in stage 8 in a sprint. Now he rides with us...man o man. He came to Canada with a vision of forming a very special kind of of team. An organic, real, sustainable team that leads by example. A team that performs by eating well, living well, being well, where obviously it is important to win, but not at any cost. After all there are limits. This is what I have learned. He brings with him a whole bag of knowledge and know how been there done that, this is the way it really goes down. I'm sure Tasha is probably already annoyed as she thinks we have a bromance going cause I've been telling her all about his vision of cycling and his ideas. But hey, just when you think you know things, you end up learning so much more. There are things that make cycling here in Canada very beautiful. Especially around Quebec city, cycling is very pure. Maybe it's the fact that Louis is out there and he has a large influence on the culture of the sport, of healthy lifestyle. LG's employees are paid for an hour of work if they bike to work and I think Louis pays their breakfast at the caf. That's not bad eh?

Anyways, lets just say sometimes you need to remember why you do something. Inspiration comes in many different places and formes. As I nurse I support my friends view of cycling, I like the idea that people are doing the sport to be healthy, add years to their lives not take them away, look like they have a motor in their bikes, but not actually have one.

SO we had a good showing in Chrlevoix, I was able to get comfy on my TT bike and rode to a solid 4th place, which in previous years, my time would of been enough to win.

We messed up the crit a little and ended up with not a whole lot to show for it. But we played the cards right during the road race, we had so many cards to play, we executed an intellingent race plan to perfection and came away with the stage win and 1,2 in the GC. The way it shook out I ended up with a bit of a support role in the pack, which ended up being ok. We isolated the major threats on the GC and our team ended up on top. I know some people still really don't get it, but it is after all a team sport, not everyone is on the same page, but maybe one day they will understand.

So, Aurelien and myself, rode back from the race almost all the way to Quebec city...210km total, in the big ring...not to be too dramatic, but you can learn alot about yourself in that time.
Also you get to really wear in your chamois...gross! He tells me this is what it takes to do Paris-Nice...how the hell would he know...oh wait a minute he was 9th. After the ride he said "la ont a fait une bonne journee, la ont est costaux" Basically, that was a good ride now we can call ourselves studs.

Crazy French guy only eat one bannana! Then he got home and ate salad! I just about pissed my pants. Louis had us over for supper and ordered some Sushi...thank the lord...trying to be French is hard work!

Le D

Not now chief...

2010-05-24T09:30:00.002-04:00

Shaun, myelf and Hugo

Not sure if you've ever seen the you tube video for "my new haircut"

parental discretion advised...but when the Broski is in the zone he is in the zone.

I started to write a post in the morning, but it sucked. More whining about this and that, frustrated about circumstances, so I just had a glass of Powerthirst and got on with the day.

Listened to some Bob Marley, chilled, then blasted some Deadmau5 to get it going.

The team layed out the tactic for the day, seemed simple enough. Big field of 125 riders, the course had some element of technicality as there were a series of sweeping turns over roads that had abviously blown up with land mines at some point during the war. There was a sweet 600 meter climb that bit into the legs and some winding roads, then another big ring climb to complete the 15km laps through Hudson. The race was a good 145km, a little onger than the norm, but when you've got serious km's in the legs it's good. The course kind of reminded me of Niagra, but on a slighter escarpment(which was funny enough the first race I ever won as a cat 3).

Anyways race starts off full gas, break goes, Spidertech and RWR at the front to bring it back, Aaron Fillion goes across the gap on the hill (shockingly fast) I'm on it like butter on popcorn, cause Aaron is a freind of mine and although some guys don't give him the respect he deserves, I certainly do.

We hammer it out get almost our whole team in the front group, which is nuts. Get the gap to 90 seconds roll for an hour and a bit, then our team goes to the front strings it out, Shaun from My team attacks, two others follow, I hop on, get a free ride, we get to hill, Shaun goes"lets go" he pushes the pace up the hill, we drop the guys it's just the two of us....

Good and bad, good that's it's just the two of us, bad cause therre is 56km's left...I shut my my brain off...don't think abput the the outcome, think of the process. Ride hard up the hills, and harder everywhere else.

Now we are motoring, all of a sudden it just didn't feel that bad, it stopped hurting, I knew we were going fast, cause well my I bike was reading 47km/hr on the flats...hmmm that's pretty fast, I thought we must have a tailwind, but then it was reading above 43km/hr in a different direction and rarely did it drop below 40km/hr, even after the hill we were able to crank it up pretty fast by keeping it in the big ring.

So we hear the bell, one to go, we really crank it..give it everything cause we had no idea of gaps or anything happening behind. We decided thatI would take it since I was able to do a little bit more of the work, I cross the line smile...then hear "one to go" they made a mistake...pause...

you ever get that sinking feeling, like you just ran over your cat or something? I had some negative thoughts...I thought I can't do another lap at that speed, I just emptied the tank...I thought if we get caught I'm going to take my bike and throw it over cliff, I seriously felt aweful...then I rememebred a few things...one winning hurts, if it's too easy it sucks...two I wanted to win for Tasha, since she has had a shit time lately..three stop thinking, suck it up and just fricking ride.

So we rode one more and you know what I probably could have done one more if you told me I had too. It goes to show that you think your legs can or can't but really it's your mind that tells them and not vice versa, first you control your thoughts then your legs. Thinking is good to a certain point, but just be.

You know we put 2minutes into our teamates then 4 minutes into the field...holy shit.

Our team raced the perfect race, good job boys, I obviously owe them huge cause it was definetly something that stands out in terms of perfomances, think about it. We finished 1,2,3,4 and Aaron Fillion rounded out the 5th money spot.

Maybe the week up in Quebec city did me some goo, a little secret training. Also I would like to thank our manager Chritian Leduc, who does not try to control the team, but rather lets us play the cards, but is wise and when he does give imput it goes a long way.

"La pire chose que tu faire au velo, c'est de trop pensee, quand tu commence a te doubtee tu est fini mon homme."

Hats off to Shaun McCarty as well who rode like a champ, and after the luck we've had lately this one goes a long way for me. I'm sure he wanted to win as well, so we'll have to set him up.

DSJ

Struck by a car, podium places, press conferences and commercials

2010-05-19T08:31:00.002-04:00

That about sums up the last week of my life. I did tweet a picture of my face after I was struck by a car on the way to a time trail. I never really likes TTing know I know why...Luckily I managaed to minimize the bodiliy damage, coming away with a busted up nose, a swollwn knee and the general feeling of well being hit by car. There has been a little ongoing pain and discomfort but after seeing what happened recently to multiple cyclists throughout Ontario and Quebec I am not going to whinbe too much about it, cause it could have been worse. Luckily my bike took alot of the impact and the side of my shoe, good thing I had my foot up at the top of the pedal stroke. THe driver was charged as she was clearly in the wrong, but she was remoresfull, it`s just one of those things...

So we raced on the weekend, I was definelty not 100%. But managed to ride ok, our team ended up winning, i squeaked out 3rd on the first day and 2nd overall on the weekend. But it was more out of circumstance than anything else.

Monday morniing we met the press for our team launch and press conference. I managed to give an absolutley horendous interview in french for CBC about car vs bike accidents, I hope no one saw it.

Then we were off to shoot a commercial for LG that will run during the Tour de France. Fortunately or unfortunately you may not see too much of me as the camera guys didn`t want a guy with scabs all over his face in fornt of the lense...who knew. Oh well on to the next chance to be famous.

Originally we were supposed ot be in Quebec till beauce, but circumstances have been complicated and we have to go back to Ontario to fill out insurance forms, get replacement costs of equipment and I need to have a little follow up to make sure I`m pedaling in circles. Shit, I was just having fun being a mini super star in Quebec, on tv, in the paper getting treated like a cchamp at the LG factory. It s a pretty sweet set up, they are even going to do a few custom alterations to our skin suits to make em as fast as possible.

So, on tap this weekend is some racing in MTL and we will head home and I will have to ask our manager if he wants me to do Charlevoix or Killington road race. I won Charlevoix last year, it s an awesome race, but after you win it, it`s like well what else could I do. You have to keep on challenging yourself, you know. If he tells me to do it, I`ll go but it would be fun for a new challenge...so hard to make decisions.

If there is a million spellling mistakes, I appologize this computer has a french windows version and well there you have it.
DSJ

Brossard crit

2010-05-03T13:08:00.002-04:00

Well this week was interesting...a little laryngitis on Monday...I 'm still not sure if it was more allergies, but whatever...then a little calf pain Friday, I think my set was just a mm too high, then Saturday I was riding at about 45km hr and was stung by a bee right below the eye. Eesh.

So never a dull moment in C wall.

Round 2 of Quebec Cup racing this weekend for a crit in Brossard. The tactic was simple...attack our brains out and win. Well we didn't want to make the same mistake(s) we made last week and we wanted to get the first win out of the way to make room for more.

We had a new addition to to the team as our Teammates Shaun and James landed from Australia earlier in the week. We let them know that although there was not 10,00$ on the line, the racing level is intense in Quebec that you would swear there was 10,000$ to win the race. Sometimes you can say allot without saying too much.

As we really haven't had that much opportunity to race together, it's a little bit of a learning curve, but JS Perron made sure that we weren't firing all bullets in the first 5minutes.

The pace was high and Garneau Club Chaussures was the main protagonist of the race, initiating , covering and blanketing the race in a sea of white, black and pink.
Our hard work payed off as it cause a split of about 13 guys off the front. We had 3 guys in this move, but so did Speidertech as they had their sprinters contingent there.

We were relentless in our attacks and forced them and the others into chasing and covering.
Hugo , myself and JS were in the red zone countless times. I was able to get off the front and do 6 laps but I could not manage to get more than 7 seconds advantage. I was caught and we kept on reshuffling , attacking and countering until Hugo and Kevin Lacombe slid away.

We were very confident in Hugo and although he would have his work cut out for him, it was a good hand to play. Hugo made us proud and took the sprint.

JS fired a well timed attack a steal the third spot. I covered the last digs as they tried to catch JS and barley missed 4th spot by a few cm's and had to settle for 6th.

When we found out Hugo got it was very satisfying to see the team successfully execute tactics and take two spots on the podium.

As it turns out our Australian teammates took 1st and 2nd in the bunch kick as well, so great day for Garneau Club Chaussures in Brossard. The whole team rode awesome, way to go boys!

As well, Jeff Schiller won the Springbank Road Race in Southern Ontario, good job Jeff and the Ontario Boys.

Blog post

2010-04-26T20:46:00.002-04:00

Yah I thought that was an original name. Little race yesterday in St MArtine. Not a bad team effort, we put 3 guys in the break, we should have had it, but it's early, as long as everyone knows that it should have been a no brainer. Such is racing. I was in the chase group, hit it hard with 5km and got that "racing" feeling, ride it like you stole it. Ah yah...Looked at the digits after the matter and "it's good". We've been working on going hard later into training and it's defiantly given me a little more "umph".

I thought I had some allergies or something, but today I think I have a touch of Laryngitis.Ouch! Can't talk, well I can but it's pretty hoarse sounding. It's probably a nice break for everyone around here. SO I been burning the keys on my blackberry and emailing everyone.

Lately I 've been hitting the Elctro beats on the I pod...in Particular Brad Miller's Podcast Push th eNight episode 26, the best track is Lusine, a track called Two Dots, there's also a really good track by Massive Attack. Check it out. If you need something harder check out anything by Gareth Emery or Matt Darey -Nocturnal Sunshine 234/236 Paul Van Dykes VONYC sessions Episode 5 is also great, ok maybe the last one is more techy house, but it's good. That's the one side effect of lots of riding, lots of good tune music. Keep the music fresh keeps the rides fresh. Plus they are all free on itunes, so can't go wrong with that

Ok last thing check this out
http://www.highroadsports.com/images/uploads/media_articles/attachments/151.pdf
I don't usually read a lot of cycling stuff, but I had a lot of down time for once today.

DSJ

Tour of the Batenkill

2010-04-19T11:14:00.004-04:00

Alright, now I'm almost in the mood to write a race report. Almost.
Not sure if you know much about this race, but I'll give you the skinny, 200km, UCI 1.2, single day classic, 2 laps of 100 km each through paved roads and gravel/dirt road sections in hills of the Batnkill NY region.

The previous years that I have done this race it has been dry as a bone, a rather hot day for April and loose gravel. The dynamic of this race was a complete paradox to years past, 5 degrees cold, wet windy and the dirt sections were sandy and almost muddy.

My prediction on the day was that the 2nd break of the day would stick and sure as shit it was.
I definitely felt a little rust on the wheels as with the exception of last weeks race, I have just been training really hard and although everything physically seemed good, you just don't really know until you mix it up. I was maybe a little too confident at the start and got behind a split and had to pedal like stink to get back onto the bunch early in the race. After all the goal was a top 5 result. I knew it was going to take a somewhat conservative approach to not burn too many bullets early on for this, but you gotta have a plan and stick with it, otherwise your just riding around with your head cut off.

One of the hardest things was to figure out exactly what to wear, I hate wearing legs to race and a thermal jersey can be downright awful, but so can hypothermia as evidence by Tash's and I hypothermic escapade in Maine during Cross season. So I did undershirt, thick jersey, thin jersey, vest, wool socks, cap, long finger gloves, and about 6 pounds of XXX sauce on my legs for that feeling like you are standing too close to the camp fire.

So about 100 km into the race I got cold, right after they ring the bell, one lap remaining, you mean we have to do the whole thing over...man. Slightly demoralizing. MY teammate JS said at about 101 km in..."you ok", "yah", "I'm cold"...just as he said that my elbows started to lock up and my fingers went numb, the old pins and needles in the arms. The worse part is a break went up the road with 12 guys and I was just a little too far back to get across to it, and it gained 1 minute...so there's a little feeling in the back of my throat thinking...shoot, I missed the break now I gotta roll around in this misery for another 3 hours for 14th place and the race is up the road, great...this is awesome. Good thing I actually remembered that this is actually the moment when a lot of people fade back, cause they think it's over, but you actually have to use this to eat drink and stay at the front cause 30% of the time, the break that "should" work, doesn't.
Funny as the day went on I felt better and better, guess the endurance training is paying off.
I mean I still didn't have a perfect race, my positioning was not the greatest here and there and I payed for it, I saw the winning move of 5guys go up the road and I was too far back and not only that there was a reason it was only 5 guys...
So coming into the last 10 km, we absorbed one guy who fell off, so the group had been whittled down from 170 to about 40 guys, with 5km to go I felt awful so I followed an attack and we almost slipped away, it left me a little gassed for the sprint, but I actually had a good position until the last corner and had to check my speed into the corner as I got chopped and lost some ground, rolled in for 23rd place. Funny how a good time to attck is when you are not well...

Doesn't sound like a stellar result but races like this are a bit of man makers, you gotta have your head screwed on right cause loose focus for more than 1 minute and it over.

I'm happy that I went for it with a few km to go, it's a good move that sometimes work if your fighting for table scraps, as they let you float away. We had a Czech guy Pavel riding with us, when I got caught with 1.5 km to go, I told him to go, but I think he thought I was insane, he rolled in for 15th place I think. This kid is tough though, that's for sure.

It's hard to compare it to last years result which on paper looks similar, but it was completely different, the conditions themselves for enough to make you want to throw your bike in the ditch.
There was definitely a little self talk here and there...good news is the voices are saying push harder...don't stop...it's not really that painful...things like that. That's why training is easy.

Funniest thing..I'm not gonna name names, but there was this guy in the race, he won this race called the Tour de France, lets call him "Loyd".... at about 165 km into race it warm up a little, well relatively, it's still pretty cold. He sits up, takes his vest off, throws it in the ditch, takes his gloves off and throws them in the ditch, as if to say "it's time to start racing"...seriously it wasn't that warm but whatever. I started laughing...man I thought that was funny then I look over at Aaron and I say this is kind of like a really hard group ride...he was covered in mud and had this look on his face as if to say he wasn't really having fun eating mud for 200km's in the rain.
As long as you only remeber the funny parts it doesn't really feel like you suffered that much, it felt really hard yeasterday but as the day goes on, it starts to feel easier and you hope that next time it will hurt even more.

Ahhhh...got love it. So I gotta foot long sub and 3 cookies and called it day.

Time to go ride.
DSJ

Clearance Rockland CLASSIC

2010-04-11T19:13:00.002-04:00

Gotta love spring races, cool weather bad roads, lots of gravel. Glen put on a great race today, just South of Ottawa, the conditions were tough, the race was only 90 km, but it's not an easy 90km, let me tell you.

I probably made my day a little tougher than it had to be by performing a new sport I invented...it's called gravel bike skating. I invented this today...what you do is during a race, go hard, get your heart rate high...not max, but about 80%, then go through a gravel corner, take a bad line, change lines through the corner to avoid a pot hole...now here is the tricky part....as you are doing this unclip one foot from the pedal...the right, as you unclip it, skate it along the gravel a good rate of speed, then do a sort of cyclocross dismount while trying to keep the bike up right, smash one knee on the gravel, do not let go of the bike, hit the deck briefly, then do not loose any momentum and run and remount on to you r bike...ok maybe not such a good idea, but it will give you a little bit of a sore knee, some gravel in your butt and sheer the plastic off your cleats.

So that being said, things were gong pretty good, it was a hard race, the local guys include Two thirds of the Nationals podium from last year so...we try to rip each others legs off, pretty much.

We had a nice little break going and Aaron attack with about 20 km to go...we were a little slow to respond, I saw the gap growing to about 20 seconds and I was pretty concerned, as on gravel roads the draft isn't all it's cracked up to be, I told the guys if we had any hope to catch him we had to do it now, just as we went over the next hill, I flatted, so that was my race, I got a wheel a few minutes later, but it was over, I rode to the finish and called it a day.

Funny enough my knee didn't really hurt during the race, but it was pretty stiff after and after I looked at what I did to my cleat, pedal and shorts it all made sense.

I'm not really sure if we would have caught Aaron as he ended up putting 2.5 minutes in the next guys, but I was most surprised to see Casey Roth up in the front group with us. This guy has come a long way in a year, strong as an ox. He ended up finishing fourth on the day, just missing out on the podium, barely. So good on him.

It's a little ironic that I often have a little misfortune in early season Ottawa races, but that's racing. Training gets you prepared physically, but mentally it's just not the same thing.
The thing is the more stock you put into a race, the more disappointed you can become if you don't win. I forgot about that part...I mean have a bad day training, well it's not that bad, no one really knows or sees it, you get over it about 20 minutes after the workout.

Good thing about a blog is you get to jot it down, get it out and then it's over. That's why for every trophy on the shelf there are 6 bibs with would have should have could have's all over them. It's a 6:1 thing.

So my real excuse for not winning today.... I was hurried this morning and I had Tasha pin my numbers to a jersey I left in the car. This was bad as I always put pins in the same direction and put a certain number of pins according to size of the numbers...lesson learned.
DSJ

some goods

2010-03-25T13:08:00.004-04:00

Here's a look at my new TT rig.

I'm just tweaking it a little here and there, there are a few changes that have to be made with the bars and such, but it's pretty sweet.

Is Time trialing my favorite thing in the world? No not really, but last year it was definitely my Achilles. But it was my Achilles cause I didn't ride it, at all.

My Cross riding was at a whole other level this year and I think it was due to riding the bike, so ipso facto I'll ride this one a little (well I say a little but that is relative) and I should be able to throw down some good speed.

The only hard part about riding the TT bike in training is this bike feels nice and fast and I just want to ride it fast. It feels pretty stiff and yet it isn't intolerable to ride for 2 hours at a time.

So it looks fast, which makes me feel fast, which will yield a favorable outcome. We'll really see over the next couple weeks when I get to light up a little how fast it really is.

I got a little rest after the last annihilation of training over the last month and I'm feeling good.

SO that means I get another chunk of work left to lead into my classics.

My first race will be the RWR Clearance Rockland Classic April 10th. I expect it to be a hard day which will be a perfect setup for the UCI Tour of the Batnkill PRO event in NY the following week.

DSJ

She's back!

2010-03-18T16:04:00.003-04:00

Where did Natasha go? I bet you didn't even know that she was gone. I did.
Where was she gone? Well that's a little harder to explain.

If you're regular on this site you may have noticed that we haven't really been saying too much lately. Tasha hadn't been feeling well since November and we thought she was just tiered, so we took a break, took a holiday, but still not better. She almost actually got worse. She was unable to train, had no energy, had huge issues with her stomach, lots of pain and her legs felt "empty".

I'll spare you all the details, cause some of them are kind of personal, but needless to say it was looking pretty grim. We even brought her to the ER twice! Now if you know me, I'm not one to panic over small illnesses or a little sickness...remember Tasha broke her wrist in Belgium one year and I made her wait to get back to Canada to get it checked out....as a Nurse my slogan was "...I really wouldn't worry about it".

Well, we did worry, alot. In addition to going to the ER, she was a physio, sports med doc, family doc, had a vascular ultrasound, had an echocardiogram, ecg's, x rays, 5 rounds of blood work and is still awaiting a GI and Vascular Surgeon and Cardiology follow up. Man she even saw a naturapath!

Well on one side good thing we live in Canada or else we would probably be in debt for the rest of our lives with those bills. On the flip side, damn the Canadian Health CARE system is slow.

Well through all of this Tasha did what she could to start feeling better, she started eliminating certain foods that could have been causing her symptoms. So she started by eliminating yeast and gluten, then dairy and lactose, then she eliminated sugar, then caffeine, then meat. Gradually she started feeling a little better here and there until this week, boom she was back! So I now date a Vegan.

Her heart rate is responding to training, her stomach is normal, she can feel her legs and most importantly she is smiling! It was a rough few months for both us. Well mostly for her, racking her brains to try and figure out what was happening, why it was happening and most importantly...how the hell to get better as no one had any answers. I mena we went from thinking that she had thyroid problems, to food intolerance's, to vascular problems...it was crazy.

But she took it by the horns and fought with an amazing will power to just point blank, cold turkey change her entire eating pattern in order to basically cure herself. Even her blood tests, in which her hemoglobin and hematocrit and thyroid function were low have responded. If you told me that nutrition had such an impact on health I would not believe it without seeing this for myself, cause realistically we are talking about someone who eats better than 98% of the population to begin with...it's truely crazy.

Maybe a little rest and time played a key role as well, but I can't help think that the changes she had made have greatly contributed to her new state of health and happiness.

The intensity she brought to her training in the past she used to fuel her fire to get better...she didn't wait for a doctor to give her a magic bullet, I'm not sure if I could have made all the changes she did...heck I have trouble only having 2 espressos a day, never mind not eating any gluten...do you know what that means? No bread, no flour, no pasta, no yeast not even eating anything that is made in a the same factory that processes wheat...yah right good luck with that...but she did it, everyday, 100% no cheating.

Anyways she's back training, smiling, looking healthy and happy.

Yah so that's the deal. I just didn't want to talk about training on the blog when I knew the most important person in my life was miserable cause she felt awful, couldn't train, felt sick and wondered what it was going to take to be healthy again.

So I'll have some pics coming soon of our new kits , new bikes, new toys now that things are almost back to normal.

I've called in a lot of prayers to the man upstairs, cause all I could do was pray...has me thinking that having faith through tough times is so important. I would just lay in bed at night and I would just talk to God so loud in my head just begging for her to be better.

Thank you.

Derrick

into the wind

2010-03-17T21:06:00.002-04:00

Crazy that the weather here is just as nice as the weather was in SC...looks like a few nice days, so I get to take advantage of it...a little. SO there are a couple good ways to get a really good ride in. Here is my recipe...first one shot espresso right before the ride...go outside, ride...see where the wind is coming from and ride straight into the headwind for as long as you can, so today that was about 90 km's, I ended up some where around Chesterville...next turnaround and just start riding into the tailwind for as long as you can handle with proper food...20km after you run out of food, look for a store...hydrate, cal up...then start making your way home...but before you get home, veer off to find some nasty roads, with some steep pitches and torn up pavement/gravel...but you gotta make sure you are at least 4 hours into the ride, you have to be tired...then race pace for as long as you can tolerate...and when you can't take it anymore...that is when you need to do some more...then you should feel pretty messed up...ride 10 km easy to flush out the system...get home eat stretch...brag about how tough you are, write it on your blog just so everyone knows you are a stud or at least think you are...then yah...that's about it.
6 hours at the office...
Oh yah...it's better to do it alone so that at one point you will feel devoid of thought.....that is what you are looking for, don't think, just do...then you have achieved a good training. That's the cool part about this kind of ride, there is a point where you just let go...that's the sweet spot. It's like yoaga and meditation all in one.
You don't want to do this all the time...but it's good every now and then. Maybe don't do this as your first ride of the year, you gotta have some form and some color on the legs for this...
DSJ

Almost done

2010-03-12T21:24:00.002-05:00

Well tomorow is gonna wrap our timehere in South Carolina. I have no excuses for not posting other than I've been spending my energy training and there ain't a whole lot left in the PM to write about. Needless to say, we wereset up with our I bikes, they are pretty cool, still getting used to some of the features, really cool to see gradients, altitude,drag factors and watts.

More about the gadgets later once I have time to really test them out.

Other than that, lots and lots of solid riding for me. Good group of guys here and lots and lots of up and down. A few of the longer rides were in the 165km and over, it doesn't really sound that epic, but it was all solid quality riding. Yesterday the rain was pretty intense and I just rode as hard as I thought I could handle for 3 hours, well, I rode that tempo for almost 4 hours, it was pretty intense. Needless to say almost 2000km of riding, almost glad to get back home.

I managed to bring some of the crew out for some SC BBQ which was great.
Weather looks nice at home, so should be able to keep off the trainer...

later

Oh CArolina

2010-03-04T19:40:00.004-05:00

Well we made it to South Carolina a few days ago for the training camp.
I never really understood why so many people came here, but the riding is really good.
Where we are in South Caolina, we can easily ride into North CArolina and the other day we even did three states in one day crossing into Georgia. http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/sc/six-mile/244126766523338990
I uploaded the ride if you want to check it out, almost 1600 meters of climbing, and my watch turned off for a bit so....
It's a littel cooler than usual, but apparently the nice weather is coming. Today I got a lift down the road then rode up and down Ceasers Head mountain a bunch of times and then rode home and then rode some more.

There's 13 people in the the house, a bit of an aminous number so we're throwing salt over our shoulders and not walking under ladders.

We've got a few of the Quebec guys here and a couple guys from BC, and a few other riders from Quebec so it makes for a good sized group and there is enough testosterone that I can punch it and there is always someone who will duke it out with me.

It's funny how fast 5 hours go by with a group of guys at a good tempo. It's a great way for me to be getting in lots of quality, quantity and a little Vitamin D. I wish Tasha could come along but her stomach has been giving her some grief still and she's just taking it day by day.

I'm sure it's hard for her to see me training my brains out and she wishes she can do the same. But in someway I think it will inevitably lead to her cross season being even better as it's not quite time for her to be training full gas.

Anyways, tommorow is a meet and greet with the people from I-bike so it should be like Christmas!
DSJ

Training camp

2010-01-25T14:46:00.003-05:00

This weekend we headed up to Quebec city for a little meet and greet at LG's Ranch.
It was basically the core guys of the Quebec team myself and Natasha. We came home with 2 road bikes and a sweet mountain bike. Unfortunately for me, it's Tasha'a mnt bike. Man just when I thought I had learned everything I needed to know about road and cross mechanics now I will have to learn a whole new ball game...

It was a little chilly to ride bikes so we had an Alpine training weekend, the timing was perfect as it was the end of a training block, so I got some time off to do do whatever.
We went skate skiing at Duschnay...man I sucked, my skiing is not good...well no it sucks...good thing I'm fit or else 2 hours would have been a disaster, I still don't know how I didn't bonk.

Yesterday we went snoe shoeing, that was a little more my style...just thrash around...not a whole lot of technique, like running in mud. So we all headed out to climb up and down the escarpments on side of the lake, we basically threw ourselves down huge hills and scaled the steepest parts we could find. Natasha toughed it but when JS wanted to scale a huge mud wall covered with melting snow she feared for her life and headed back to the Ranch.

It was pretty cool, laid back, we even went out to watch the hockey game at Cage Au Sports Saturday night.

Nice to have a couple days off but still stay active and amazingly i only have a little twinges of pain in my left calf.

So another couple weeks of weights and computrainer riding and we'll be off the South Carolina...
for training camp number two, this one may invovle riding though...
DSJ

For my Friends...

2010-01-20T14:54:00.005-05:00

I know lately our, well my posts have not really been bout cycling or racing...so the blog had been more of a diary than anything...sorry if it's been a little boring, but I have something to say today.

So I talked a really good Friend of mine yesterday. He has recently been trough some crazy times. I won't go into all the details, but after giving birth to their new son his wife mysteriously picked up a Staph infection that put her in the ICU where she was on ventilaor and let's say anything that could have went wrong went wrong...all those 1% chances all those "there's a small chance of "x" happening" happened. His journey alongside his wife is remarkable, he sat by her side while their newborn son had to stay with his brother 1000km away as she was sent in chopper to a an intensive care unit across the province.

You know, my heart goes out to him...I had no idea, that all this had happened.

I have given this some thought and this year when things are hard and I am tiered, I will think of my Friend, and his wife on how she fought for her life, on how he stayed awake 26 hours at a time sleeping only 2 hours a day.
I will think of them, I will dedicate my perseverance to them.
When I want to give up , I will push harder...I will feel pain until I have nothing left and I will push myself past my limits, when my feet feel like they will bleed I will push harder, when my legs feel like they can no longer turn I push until the muscle want to shear from the bone and they will be my inspiration in achieving my goals and I hereby dedicate myself to be the best I can be for my Friend Dan and his Wife Nathalie.

So when you see the fire in my eyes, know that I am prepared to crush myself, cause it can not be even close to the pain they have felt.

DSJ

untitled

2010-01-18T14:17:00.004-05:00

I have no title for today's post. Yesterday we watched Roubaix World Cup on Cycling TV...man what a mess! That is the hardest Cross race I've ever done. It was alot easier to watch it with a coffee after I emptied the tank on the trainer in the am. We watched the womens race first..we even woke up early to do so...I know we are huge nerds! Was inspiring to see Nash win a WC, just goes to show you that once you get to a certain level, you have to put a little more direction in what you do to really shine. I love seeing the joy when people like that win, you can always tell that their victory is true and pure. I'll even go as far as saying that I was inspired to push just a little harder yesterday, as I thought about June. I didn't really make it hurt any less, it just made it tolerable.

One chunk of training done, today is a little easier and we end the week with a winter training camp in Quebec City where we will meet up with Louis, Christian and the boys.

I was able to squeeze in 60 km outside Saturday, not bad for a Canadian winter.

Alfie's back with Sens, Olympics around the corner, another chunk of training coming up....just enjoying things.
D

What does saving lives and winning races have in common

2010-01-11T13:53:00.005-05:00

Last night we watched Blood letting and Miraculous Cures. It's a pretty good show, also it's Canadian, so way to go us. Watching these kind of shows sometimes bring a a smile to my face. If you remember, I'm still a Nurse and have licence to prove it. Anyways the show takes place in an ER, similar to the one I used to work in...and there is a small part of me that misses the saving lives part. If you've never held a pair of defibrillator paddles in your hand and gave 36o joules of electricity through someones chest to literally kick start their heart, you've never lived.
The way the body jumps off the table, it's pretty intense. Or given thrombolitics to stop a stroke, reversed congestive heart failure( that one is actually my favorite for some reason, 10 minutes from gurgling fluid in your lungs to breathing normally) that stuff used to be my bread and butter. It's crazy cause the more I think about it the more episodes I can remember of really making a difference in someones life. Most of the time, they would never even say thanks, nor did we ask, cause we were the first line and people were in such a state when they saw us that we would never really remember us.

I remember when I first started racing, I would think while I was racing "I bet no one here saved a life yesterday". Then as racing took over a larger part of my life I remember thinking while I was working "I bet no one here knows that I won a bike race yesterday".

SO by now you're thinking what the hell is Derrick trying to say today...well just hold on.

Well the point is in order to do both those things, there's so much more that goes into having those moments, so much that you take for granted once your there. Yah sure there were alot great moments I had when I worked, but there were lots of times of stress chaos and 11 hours into a night shift where I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown...I would have given a million dollars just to finish some of those "nights from hell".

It's kind of like this part of the year. IT's just training, there's no glory, there's no money, just training. But the point is no matter what you do, there's always gonna be things that you love to do and some not so much. SO you just grind your teeth and stick it out.

Yesterdays training came onto the back of one of the biggest weeks we've had to date and yesterday didn't go quite as planned, it hurt more than it should have, but we did it.

I think alot of the experiences you have in something other that your sport or your work can help you deal with obstacles you face in your other parts of your life. I know we are not doing anything as"precious" as saving lives while we ride our bikes and lets face it, it is not the same.
But I hope that we inspire people to have the confidence and desire to be great in whatever they pursue in life. That's what I've learned, I've worked hard in different ways and often never received recognition for it, but it's never really mattered that much for me. For me it's been about just giving 100%, suffering, working hard to every now and then have moments that can never be matched. But I also remember the wise words of my friend DR Bishop, while we were working one time in the ER I asked him about how he made it through medical school and he said "enjoying the journey". Ok that's my Jack Handy "deeeeeep thought of the day"

Hard man training for the day.....
Monday.....So today is slap yourself in the face day, just do it, slap your left cheek...now slap the right one just a bit harder, repeat alternating sides until either you can not tolerate it anymore. Hurts eh?
Ok by now you are either laughing or crying either way, thanks for reading have a good one and I hope your work/training wasn't as bad as that.
This is proof that training as much as me will make you crazy!
DSJ

Little reminders

2010-01-09T12:10:00.003-05:00

Right after I finished writing my last blog update, we received word that an interview we did in November was published...it's a great interview by Lyne at Podium insight.

http://www.podiuminsight.com/2010/01/07/its-all-about-cross-in-2010-for-natasha-elliott/

It is a good reminder as well, reasons for both of us to try and stay on track, slowly rebuilding our strength, and narrowing down the focus for 2010.

Also, yesterday Jan Safka, sent me a few pics from NJ GP. He is working a new post photo technique. I guess he's not mad at me anymore(at the Toronto UCI race, I came through a corner really fast and skidded my rear tire over and a small rock and dust flew up hit him in the eye and gave him a corneal abrasion). Sorry.

Oh yah, we just saw that Tasha was voted 8th best Female Cross racer by Cyclingnews.com...not bad...not bad.

Once apon a time last year...

2010-01-06T17:49:00.003-05:00

Today had me thinking a lot of last year's trip to Belgium. As I'm sure you've heard me moan and groan about it, let's just say it wasn't easy. About 1 week from now is the time I started to crack and realistically I was fed up. Not too much happens in January in Europe, race wise. There's a pretty big gap from the X mas Cross blitz to Worlds. Well if you're European you've got Nationals, but there are a few World Cups and that's about it. I think the plan next year will be to come home in January and maybe send Tasha back just before Worlds.

So what do I remember about Belgium? Well I remember buying lots of canned tuna. Easy to find, healthy, and most importantly cost effective. Our classic Belgian meal, cook whole wheat pasta, mix a can of tuna, frozen peas, sprinkle a little cheese. We eat that over and over, cause we could make it for like 3-4 Euros.

I remember walking to the Delhaize and freezing my ass off walking home with groceries and getting an arm workout in doing so. Felt like college all over again (without the hangovers).

I also remember riding the Roubaix World Cup and just sucking really bad. People talk about going over for "the experience" but for me there is only so much ass kicking I can take. There are definitely good things about these experiences, but realistically , I think I learned more this year racing at the front of races in North America. Perhaps the courses are not quite as technical in North America, but unless you win on a pretty consistent basis there is obviously something challenging enough about the courses that makes it tough. Right? Sometimes we'll go through a course and Tasha will say that she didn't think it was too technical, then I'll say "did you have to use your brakes" if there answer is yes, well then try going through the section full gas..."now is technical"?

So do I miss eating mud and freezing and being poor? No way. Maybe I miss the spectacle of races, cause for sure that can not be matched. But even with Sponsorship it's an expensive endeavour to get your ass kicked, repeatedly. We are still paying for last years trip on our credit cards.

Not to say that we are any richer here, cause if I was I would not live in my parents basement.
But at least it's warm, well in the basement anyways.

To tell you the truth June does seem like a long time from now, but really it's not. Realistically once you get to a certain level you have to push really hard to get that next few seconds, couple watts or what not.

But that's what our sport is about. It's about trying to beat people that you are not supposed, it's about lots of people being in awesome shape, but having a day, a race a week where your awesomness is more awesome.

I don't really have a big conclusion to this. But I know this is the year where all the pieces of the puzzle come together.

I had great races last year, I still think about the Toronto weekend, attacking the Cannondale boys leading the race thinking wholy shit I have a gap! I think about Tour de Beauce attacking on the last lap up La Grand Allee in QC city, just shy off the win. Man, there were a few times I was really close. But that's why I'm at home putting days of work in, so that those "almost had it's" turn in to "got it". I just have to do the work. It hurts a lot, but so does loosing.

DSJ

2010

2010-01-03T22:34:00.002-05:00

New year, but not a whole lot changing. I'd like to say that we made a bunch of resolutions. But we didn't. New years we stayed in and I cooked up some Shrimp Curry, Nan bread and some Thai rice. MMM...so good. No racing right now so we are not living large by means, as income is pretty much zero. But it's not that bad, we had a 50$ dollar cap on Xmas gifts for each other, but it just makes for more thought in what you do. If you ever want to appreciate the value of money, just get by on as little as possible an you'll see there is a whole other World out there. Don't get me wrong any time we're winning races and money is coming in it's great, but we're really well trained on streeeeeetching our dollars as far as possible.

So every year I really have to work hard to find some good music to bust up the monotony of indoor computrainer riding, a couple years ago it was Tiesto, last year we were into David Guetta and trance of all kinds. But it just wasn't cutting it so I searched and searched and found some new sources of musical enhancement...and I found it for new...PLump DJ's release under the Global Underground label. This stuff is fat! I even had to dig out an extra set of tower speakers in the den. Coupled with the boombastic sub woofer it's loud...man if I don't blow an ear drum or break the windows in the basement it's gonna be like going to the club. AH the things we do to entertain ourselves. Of course Tasha's not really into it, as she's more of a top much music countdown top 30 kinda music lover and she's not really into "extremely loud music" but she loves me and I think she just puts up with it.

ok have to finish watching the USA Swede game to see who the boys face Tuesday.
DSJ

Season Greetings

2009-12-22T16:18:00.002-05:00

Well I guess we were about due for a post, so I'll give you the word on what's happening down at the Dynamic Duo Headquarters. It's a a crazy time of year...sike. It's so nice to not be racing right now...yah I'm sure I'll miss it in a few months, but It's been 3 years since we've had a proper build for the season.

I probably said this before, but our idea to have a vacation was awesome. Man if you've had a long season, take a holiday, don't bring your bike and have some boat drinks and fry like a piece of bacon on the beach. Just let it go. You'll feel so much better after. It did us so much good and really allowed us to spend some stress free time together. Think we will both benefit on the long term benefits of just not being such nerds. Seriously. I think think every training book should say...end your season, take a vaccation, get a life, have fun...then you can start back. That's not to say training and racing isn't fun, but it's not the same. Other than that we are feeling great and things are great.

I've taken on a few people that I am helping coach/guide towards their objectives. That's kind of fun for me to get to share what info and experiences I have gained through the years and diffuse it to others to help them achieve their goals.

We've also made a small change in coaching as well. Although we really enjoyed Dan's coaching and approach to it, we needed someone a little closer, especially as Tasha won't be racing a whole lot during the summer, she'll benefit from a watchful eye. So Dan is handing the reins over to Glen Rendall.

Glen has been my go to guy over the years anyways, so it's a pretty easy switch and at this point we know what kind of training has to be done, what type when, ect and we are a lot more focused on key events through the year, it's just good to get a little objective help.

So we've planned a few training camps and layed out the objectives and everything. It's so cool to have all this done, be over that first couple weeks of soreness from the weights and it's not even X mas, man I almost feel organized this year, I even have my contract signed, my bikes are ready, Louis is sending me the preliminary design on the kits, we just just got word of a new additional sponsor, which is going to be really hot (in more ways than one). I feel like I usually do in March, and it's not even Janurary so that's a great sign for the road season. As I said, my focus this year will mainly be road. But if we have a "Cross Contingency Plan" casue you never know, an injury, a bug or a call from God to spread the word of the Lord can just happen at any minute so I have a backup plan if the s hits the fan so to speak and am sidelined through the summer...

Other than that just enjoying not having to leave to leave the house and figuring out some gifts
for Tasha. It's nice to be home. AS the next two years we will be away, so we'll just cram it all in this year. I hope that means I get my 2011 gifts...sweet.
DSJ

Torched

2009-12-14T14:54:00.004-05:00

The Olympic Torch came to Cornwall today so we had get to down to business in the gym first to get there on time. My legs are going to be sore tomorrow I think...well I know.

Anyways we caught it. Kind of inspiring, sure not all the people carrying the torch are athletes, but I think it's about the message, people getting together to celebrate the triumph of the human spirit. Regardless if I ever have the chance to go, I work for a similar goal, which is to push myself past my limits and push to be the best, at least on a given day or week.

So, it adds a little fuel to the fire, maybe it will help me with motivation during the nest couple months, and maybe it keeps the cake out of my mouth next week.

Regardless, it has to be the funnest thing we did in Cornwall to date, and it took a whopping 5minutes to get there and park.

Are you here for the weight loss?

2009-12-09T07:13:00.003-05:00

So check this out....We go to gym yesterday. I tell the girl we are here for the deal (10$ membership). "What deal" she says..."are you here for the revolutions weight loss clinic?".
"DO I LOOK LIKE I NEED TO LOOSE WEIGHT?" I say.

Man...I guess our down time plumped us up! Usually when I see people during the season they ask me if I'm ok, cause they say I look very gaunt. I guess not riding your bike and mowing down Mojitos and tacos for a week can do wonders for your waist line.

So that's my funny story. So I guess our season was over after Southampton. Tasha thought it was time to call it quits and I agreed. I knew I was tiered, as I hadn't really been into updating our blog and training had been mediocre at best for the last couple weeks.

So here's my take on my season. I'm happy with it, a few podiums, some great rides and best of all, I was really able to push the limits as far as technique and strangely enough over the last couple weeks, it was actually more fitness issues than technique.

So I've signed a contract for next year with Garneau Team and set out my objectives. The roster is pretty much finalized and it's a super strong team and our schedule is pretty conducive to my goals in 2010. I did have a few amazing offers, but how could I say no when LG has definitely taken care of us this year and their commitment to back Tasha for MNT and Cross is a dream come true for her as well.

We've had our vacation and it's time to ease back into the prep for 2010. Man this is the first year I will have a nice prep period before the road season. Doing back to back seasons can only take you so far before you need to put the "work" back in to get you to the next level. For me, taking some time to build again will be key into reaching my objectives next year, as I plan to focus primarily on the road and a very condensed cross season, maybe 6 race weekends that's it.

I feel like this year I didn't really decide if I was going to commit to Cross or Road but after evaluating my performances, objectives and results it's pretty clear the path I should take.

I think it will be good , as Spring and Summer will be for me and the Fall and Winter for Tasha.
It may be a little weird to be on opposite schedules, but I will come into Cross Full on and float until the wheels fall off.

So I may have forgot how much squats and dead lifts hurt...but I still don't think I look like someone who needs to loose 20 lbs!

DSJ

Thanks to everyone who supported us this year and who offered to help support a trip to Europe, but I'm pretty sure Tasha will have to cross the pond a few times next year, so she'll be back to harass you then. In the mean time I know the Canadian Juniors are headed to Worlds and if you feel the need to help out some cross racers I'm sure they would appreciate it. Don't get me wrong, if you want to send us an X mas card with some brown backs no prob, but I know next year we'll be hard up to send Tasha to Europe twice.

Sand running

2009-12-04T08:33:00.003-05:00

So most of you will probably read this title and think that I am talking about the sand of the recent World Cup in Koksijde. Nope not true. I'm talking about the beautiful sand on the coast of Dominican Republic. Punta Cana to be exact. This is where I have been the last week or so. No Internet, no bikes, no training except a little running on the beach here and there. Although I have come back to see that somehow I have written a lot of wall posts on my facebook account with out using the Internet about eating lots of Turkey over the American Thanksgiving weekend. Yeah, that wasn't me, so please ignore any of this junk, although I did eat a lot of food on vacation.

So lets just say this was my first vacation in more than as many years as I've know Derrick (at least 5 years) and it was very over due. Many of you are probably wondering why I decided to cut the season short and end it after winning the NACT series in Southampton. Well, cause I kind of messed up this year. See I thought not focusing on cross would make me a better cyclocross racer and the more I got involved with road and doing stage races during the summer the better I would become at cyclo cross. I burnt the candle on both ends the last few years with no rest between seasons and multiple trips to Europe in two different sports. To top it off I had the worst illness I have had in my life this year in the middle of the road season loosing 8lbs in June and never gaining it back. Instead throwing myself into 4 stage races immediately after and the latter two being in France with the National team. I set myself up for a disaster, who'd did I think I was, Wonder women?? I'm not sure of the destruction that illness did to me, but it most likely cost me the entire year of cycling. Just imagine losing 5 % of your weight and then enduring in the hardest racing of your life and not giving your body chance to ever gain it back or recover. I raced and travelled more than anyone I can think of in the world of cycling this past year to add insult to this illness. This is what happens sometimes when you want things so bad, you become your own worse enemy, pushing and pushing until something gives.

Something did give for sure and even further into the mess I created, I got an chronic injury from what else would you think but chronic over training and not having rest between my seasons. Chronic compartment syndrome.........every cross race this year my left leg has swelled around the calf about 2o minutes into the race and caused my left foot to go numb. Sometimes worse than others and when it starts to happen there is no going back, all I can think of is me going into the barriers jumping off my bike and not feeling my foot and then blowing my ankle out. I think about it every race.

The list goes on and on, and I'll try not to bore you any more with excuses or reasoning's of why to cut the season short. Where are we now, back in C-wall, feeling relaxed, rested and recovered and have a huge plan for next year. Pierre at Louis Garneau Sports (who has kind of been like our manager this year in Cross as we run everything by him first) had a suggestion a few weeks back for me to solely focus on cross next year and go for it. Basically saying if you do cyclo cross, "you might as well win at it", so do everything right and better than the next person doing it. LG is going to support me enough to train all summer for cyclo cross, road race if I feel it fits well with the training, maybe venture into a few mountain bike races as well. But mainly not fry myself out by feeling the need to race or travel during the off season of cyclo-cross (summer months). And from what I have learned this system has seemed to work out for the riders flying in cyclo cross this season (Katerina Nash for example!).

Am I upset about cutting the season short........kind of, but not as much as one would think. Mainly because inside I know that I didn't focus on cross this year and didn't but in all the work I had done 2 years ago before cross. I took a different approach and learnt a whole lot about what not to do. Yep my technical skills improved remarkably this year but I didn't have all juice in the tank to take me through a whole season. So for next year, the plan is to start cross fresh with the two of these together. Knowing this I know that my game will be where it needs to be and anything will be possible. I'll say it here and you can quote me on it next season, but I want to stand on the podium at a World Cup and can see it already.

It is amazing to have this opportunity given to me, and to be honest, I was doing more and more road each year as I thought is was going to make me better at cross. Don't get me wrong, I like the road, but I love cyclo cross! Pierre and everyone at LG Sports obviously see my potential and want me to go for it, give it 110%, and I was thinking the exact same thing in my mind the last few weeks. I knew I came into cross tired but thought that I could pull myself out of it. I don't think the amount of races and travel I did this season helped me at all.

I gave everything I could at Southampton 2 weeks ago just to see if I could salvage anymore of the season. I even drank a full red bull on day 2 and went a 150% off the start giving me a 20 metre lead in the first 2 minutes of the race. "All or nothing" I said to myself that day, as I didn't ride my bike all that week to see if I could get rid of the damage of being burnout. It didn't work out well for me as my heartrate reached a mere 168 bpm at an effort of 150%, that was enough proof for me.

I still accomplished my goals this year....I got to race in Europe with the National team on the road, I won a series in cyclo cross in North America (almost 2). Although I had planned on winning the Verge, but it became the NACT series instead. I think if I didn't miss 6 of the Verge races I probably would of won it too. I wasn't really planning on going to Worlds in the first place this year in Cross as I knew a break was going to be needed this January before road. So I just ended the season a few weeks early than planned and really found out what I want to do in cycling. Where my heart is at and what I want to become the best in the world at.

Live and learn, who'd would of thought not focusing on cross and going with the flow would not make you the best in the World! With every great champion, there are lots of sacrifices that need to be made. All I know is that a lot of important lessons were learnt this year and all I could do was limit the damage and prepare for the season of my life next year in September. Refuel the tank, take it slow as I got lots of time before the season starts. Thanks again to all our supporters, fans, family, sponsors or anyone else I missed.

Oh yeah and one more thing, we get to spend Christmas with everyone this year. First time in 3 years, bad news is with my focus on cross for the next few years it probably won't happen again for awhile!

NCE

New Jersey

2009-11-17T09:32:00.005-05:00

All smiles before but.....IT hurts that much to Finish 11th at a USGP-Photo by Jan Skafa-

So we headed back to NJ to visit our friends Neal and Sharron and their children Jack and Benjamin. The weather was rather somber Friday, so we set the trainers up in the garage for a little spin.

Saturday Tasha said she felt a little feverish, and she said she was sweating a little at night.
She looked fine so we didn't pay it much attention. She started her race and then just didn't feel right, not like herself. It was a little bizarre cause she was a little confused after her race and couldn't find her bike. Like I said she looked ok, but I knew something wasn't right cause she was not nervous and super relaxed, almost too much. Same thing Sunday, just not feeling right and she decided to call it a day.

So she'll take a few days off cause her body is telling her it is trying to fight off infection and would rather get better than pedal right now.

I had an ok race Saturday in the sloppy mud. Finished off 16th, not bad. I wouldn't call that mud my specialty, but it's a t least to the point where I love riding in the mud. The cool thing is I feel like I get about 1% better every mud race, so as long as no one else is getting better I'll win one for sure. THere were about 3 sections of the course in which I just couldn't quite master and probably cost me about 15 seconds per lap. Other than that I went as hard as I could.

Sunday I was a little bit more at homeon the course as it was a little faster, got to run "regular" tires with 22 psi so that's a little more my style. I was in a good spot off the start but took myself out twice in the first lap and lost some spots, fought back hard and got to top ten but just fell short on the last lap batteling with 5 guys or so, and I was able to drill it enough to beat all but Jones. SO I was happy as 11th at a GP in which everyone is there is an awesome result for me, especially on a muddy course...ok it wasn't as muddy as the day before, but hey it wasn't bone dry. I could say I wanted a top ten...I was actually aiming for top 5 which would have been rediculously great, but a few mistakes here and there, I figure every bobble costs a few seconds so every mistake just puts you a little bit further...so even on a perfect day for me a top 5 would have been almost too good to be true. But hey I was in for top ten on course that wasn't 100% geared to my abilites and it is about 30% better than my best GP result last year, so I just keep on hacking away.

Although it was a little bit of a wash for Tash, once again she kept her head on her shoulders, she didn't pout, she talk shit, she just accepted the circumstances and acted like a professional. Anyone who knows her would know how hard it was for her this weekend, she obviously had potential to really excel, but she kept her composure the best she could. She probably could have finished the races but honestly she is not there to participate, she is there to compete and she would have just drilled bad habits into her head..so you won't hear me say it is usually a good idea to withdraw, but good call her, rest up get better and then throttle it.

WE are off to the Hamptons this weekend and I'm pretty sure I'll be "in the race" a little more as usually this is a great course for me. We're still on the fence for the next couple weeks as we need Tasha to get better, I'm still trying to convince her to let me go to Spain to do a "crit" style World cup in the sun...but there's no womens race there, so it's not really that realistic. A boy can dream though.

Thanks again to the Stoeckles again for hosting us, nice to see them and the kids are great, they always put a smile on our faces and you can't help but be happy around them.

DSJ

Cycle Smart day 1-Tasha 2nd DSJ 6th

2009-11-07T18:22:00.002-05:00

One down, one to go. Back in MA for a little nice weather cross racing. Tash had a solid race and came 2nd today. She made one small bobble in the sand and it was the difference between first and second. It's good to see that the women's racing is taking on that kind of level. Basically when there is stiff competition you have to ride almost to perfection to get the win.

Adam (Myerson) hooked us up with a great host for the weekend, we are about 4 k away from the course, so it's perfect. Super nice family, Mike and Maria and their children Emma and Phillip and dog Dozer. We're just getting cleaned up before dinner..Maria is Italian and she is making some really nice smelling chicken and tomato sauce..mmm.

My race was ok, I finished 6th. I was a little disappointed with how I was riding a few parts of the course, I just wasn't as good as I needed to be today over some of the technical stuff. C'est la vie. It's actually kind of funny cause I slid out in the exact same section twice...exact same mistake.

At least the weather was nice and this is a great race so even though it wasn't an awesome day for me, it's still a good experience and fun to be here.

We did narrow down some possibilities for our Trip to Europe. We are leaning on a shorter trip, as we first decided to do and shut it down Jan 3rd and no WORLDS this year. Why? Well I have obligations next year on the road and my season will be focused around a few key UCI races. This means I need a break this year before getting on the gas again for a training camp and early season races. Tasha does have a few offers for the road right now and for her, she would like to do some more National team projects , some early season stuff like Redlands, Gilla and so forth, so we will race hard until Jan then shut it down and hopefully enjoy this thing called "vacation"...I hear they are quit fun. Next years push on the road will be a little bit longer I suspect so we have decided that we need to go into the year on a full tank. And who knows, taking the rest this January might lead to both better road and CROSS seasons next year. Natasha's said one of her goals was to be doing Worlds in both cross and road next year, and be in the races to podium. Doing Cross till Feb is great but it just eats into the prep time for the next season. So that's where we are at, more like 2-3 weeks in Europe. This way it allows us to to be focused in training and preparation and then we know how long we can float on the shape we have. We'd rather be focused for the races we chose to do in Europe rather than racing just because.

DSJ

Kanata

2009-11-03T17:53:00.003-05:00

Click here for an interview we just did with Denise Kelly from the OCA...

We had a nice Sunday in Ottawa. Did the OBC race in Kanata. Great to see all the crew out there, catch up with people and throw down some good O town Cross. I like this series cause it's pretty low key, no stress, well almost none. Bob and Ian do a good job of keeping this series going, it's the kind of racing that gets people into the sport and it's cool cause I get to race against Natasha, Robbie O, the Super strong juniors K bomb, Evan, Karl and Connor. Natasha gets to race against Glen 6to1 Rendall. I think he did everything he could to beat beat Natasha cause he was looking pretty wrecked after the race...haha I love it.

I went into the race rested as we've been training full gas and I just needed a little rest so I took Friday off and felt awesome on Sunday. We've been focusing on bettering my starts and we've made some good progress. First time I have lead a race from start to finish, now I know how much fun Tasha has when she does that.

Admittedly I knew I had to go hard with Os and his young home boys ready to pounce if they had an opportunity. Evan McNeely looked like he rode his brains out to try and stay on my wheel but I just hit the throttle on second lap at 100% and it was just a little too fast for him. Watch out though this kid is a junior and he was riding like a man...I rode the 2nd lap at about 95% and I think I only put 15 seconds into him...man if that kid sticks with it...

Yah so it's a small race, but there is some pretty good guys there and it's always to fun to win. Sometimes when your traveling a lot doing high caliber races, you almost forget what it is like to win...so you have to remind yourself so when the time is right on the big day you stick it cause it just feels natural...so it just feels like your on your couch. Well on your couch with slobber on your face.

Speaking of slobber on your face, it was awesome to see Tasha race for 1hour 10 minutes. You know the womens races are usually just under 40, sometimes even 35 minutes, so that's almost a double shift for her. Man after an hour she fell apart, I was egging her on telling her to finish strong and she almost killed herself on the last barriers, she forgot to pick her bike up and just ploughed through it. She was done. Man it was kind of priceless. I think there were alot of guys that girled on Sunday! She had alot of fun to be able to do a race like this and it kind of changed it up for us.

We celebrated our return to Ottawa with some Shawarma Palace and man it was good!
We're still trying to finalize our plans for Europe..it's actually funny no ticket booked, no accommodations...but sometimes it's good to be a little flexible, that way you can focus on what you are doing at the present. I'm sure at some point we will panic but until then no worries.

DSJ

Maine and beyond

2009-10-26T14:25:00.003-04:00

So day two in Maine was a little warmer, well alot warmer, but the mud was even thincker, like oatmeal that's been in the microwave for too long.

It was good. The start was kind of crazy with a downhill mud section that was super wide and some dude put his bike into me and then someone ran over my head. That hurt. I grabbed the wrong bike then found my bike, went from bout 25th to 3rd in a few laps and broke my derail er hanger with 1/2 lap to go. Ran through the mud for 8th. That's cross. But something definetly clicked as I found myself riding really fast in the mud, I found how I could use my skill/strength to attack parts of the mud and use every once of energy into momentum. So I have to say that this was perhaps the most beneficial two races of my career. Crazy.

A huge thanks to our host family this weekend Chris and Phil for taking us in and feeding us some wicked chilli Saturday night.
Tasha rode consistent, but was a little under fired for the mud as she had also but in a big week of training and this was supposed to be a "b" race for us. It was supposed to be low key, but that's pretty impossible with the conditions, but hey you win some, you loose some.

This brings me to my next issue. WE are planning our European Campaign and we need some help. Basically we want to take a different approach then last year. We want to find a family that will host us, or maybe even a few different people who will take us in for a few weeks. SO if anyone who reads this has any family in Belgium/Holland and would like to take us in for a bit let us know, we would really appreciate it. We have had a alot of luck doing this in North America and the people we have met have been great so figure we will try to repeat the recipe in Europe and yield a similar outcome.

Ok, that's about it for today..see the local crew out in Kanata on Sunday.

why do I shave my legs

2009-10-24T22:32:00.002-04:00

Why...I just don't know sometimes. Like today...still got mud in my eyes and I'm feeling wrecked. What ever happened to the off season... Tiered, Tasha 3rd, Derrick 5th. I got a flat while I was in 2nd...then I just couldn't ride fast enough. We both had good rides. 11pm and clothes is clean, sort of, bikes are clean, mostly. Mud in my eyes. Must go to bed.
Tomorrow will be a little warmer...being hypodermic today was slightly unpleasant, mumbles and stumbles, I thought why do I shave my legs and why is every single piece of clothing I own wet! Man, why do I shave my legs. Why is everything wet. Who ever thought that riding bikes in mud was a great idea anyways...have they never heard of roads. Why did I shave my legs...I just don't know why ever ever started...but I'm here and this is what I do. I like the shine (sun) more than the rain, but it makes me tough. There were alot of really nice looking cows today.
I noticed there was alot of mud as well, mostly cause it's still coming out of my eyes...
They, the cows, had names...they even had music in their barns, and apparently little elevators to take their poo away. During the last lap I wished someone took me away and had a magical blow dryer to warm me up and a machine that I could just throw my bike and clothes into and they would come out looking new. Seems like there are easier ways to make a couple hundred dollars. But I guess I wouldn't get to run around in the mud in pink...ahhh well it was good fun.
DSJ

Rain in Maine

2009-10-24T08:25:00.002-04:00

We had to make a change of plan. Our mechanic for Kentucky broke a rib, so we are in Maine as we did not want to spend 30 hours in the car this weekend. It poured rain last night, it's still raining...it will be a mud fest today. Good news is there is more oxygen in the air when it rains.
We drove through New Hampshire on the way here, who knew Mt Washington was that enormous, we drove by it once, on the way back, but it was snowing so we couldn't see a thing.

Big news, the UCI has held our Nationals points until January. I looked to see if there was a new rule about this, but there isn't. Well in one way it's kind of fair, as there is no way Cross nats should be that early...but on the other hand we could have just flown to Travesio to racked up some points. In the end though you pretty much have t go to Europe to benefit from the points.

We've actually been sorting out our Euro campaign...We've got a few different ideas, more to follow.

DSJ

TO

2009-10-19T10:31:00.002-04:00

Well, back in Toronto for one of our favorite weekends of the year.

Tasha rode really smooth on Saturday. I kept telling her to shut it down but I think she was just on fire. She said she felt she wasn't really going that hard, but that's what you call having a good day, it just doesn't feel that hard. Pepper gave her a little run for it on the first lap, but Tasha waited and made her move and it was very decisive.

With her win, she jumped into the lead of the North American Cyclocross Trophey (NACT) Series lead and got another sweet jersey to add to this years collection.

I had an ok race. Well that's not true, it was pretty much straight up awesome. I started off ok, but had to fight through a little traffic. On this course I think it was important not to go like stink on the first lap as going up a ski hill 8 times takes a toll on the body. I managed to tag on to the back of the group of 5 leaders. Powers hit the barriers and Johnson plowed into him, it was like Moses parting the red sea except it was Cannodale green and It tipped toes my way through the chaos onto Andy Jacques wheel. I wasn't sure if I should attack as there is always a little bit of etiquette in cycling, in retrospect maybe I should have given it full gas, but as there were a series turns I had to wait before hitting the throttle. But I did hit it a few times and attacked through the barriers the next lap, and then attacked again up the hill, this time Johson responded and stayed close to him, but not close enough. Driscoll then followed. I battled with Watson for third and I matched his accelerations and took him on the final climb but slid out with a few hundred meters to go roiling into 4th.

Sunday Tasha stormed away during the first lap and was never to be seen. Well there was a young junior chomping at her heels, and closed to within 15 seconds, but she just kept the pressure on and secured the win and I believe most of the points for the jersey.

I was unable to match the speed of the three man Cannodale train on the first lap and resolved to fighting for 4th. I won the battles using my kamikaze barrier attacks to get the final gap.

Great weather, great weekend. Good to see a lot of people at the venue. Great courses both days. Lots of great photos all over the web.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/toronto-international-cyclo-cross-c1/stages/stage-1/photos/92131

Yah that's pretty much my favorite photo ever.

Also, we were able to take coach Dan out and his wife Sara. We brought them to a Shawarma place, best of all I got a Shawarma hat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They said they would give it to me only if I wore it...for sure I'm going to wear a hat that says Shawarma...it's only the second most important food group after coffee.

I could actually do a long blog post, as the weekend was really exciting but I'm pretty tiered and we are travelling to the USGP in Kentucky Friday so we are gonna do a little run today.

I also received an email that means so much to me. In this sport you have to work hard, but good things come if you just keep at it

I really think that I raced close to my full potential this weekend. Having amazing product support from LG really helps, I have to say they have been amazing. Also having Alex Sanna (Soingeur Race Services) do all the pit work is a super help. If you ever need a soingneur look him up, he is a big supported of the Dynamic Duo and I would recommend him to anyone.

When you buy LG products or hire Alex you are supporting the people who believe in us and you directly contribute to our success by doing so. I know Alex is being certified as a level 3 coach as well, if his coaching is anything like the great services he offers to us, I am sure it is pretty great.

Derrick

3 week recap

2009-10-11T21:28:00.001-04:00

So it's been so long since I've done a post. Apparently I should of being doing more, as too many guys in the west coast read Derrick's post the wrong way last night. All well, such is life and we don't have a blog to cause trouble but to use as a race report and a diary and nothing more that. Family, friends, fans, supporters and sponsors are interested in how we are and what we are doing and sometimes this is our only connection to them. The smartest thing I have done though over the last few weeks, is stopped reading everyone's blog that I race against. Why.....well there is no need, if I see these people at the race, I'd rather just talk to them and listen to how things went, cause, really that shows that I care and am interested and I am actually listening to there answers. It's been a real great experiment and I really proud of myself for this step. As a racer you can read into someone's blog the wrong way, and not get their true perspective, but if you talk to them you actually see that it is different from what you would read. Hey and sometimes people like to make jokes and sound funny but not for it to be taken the wrong way.

Anyways, a short 3 weeks ago the racing had started and wow how much variety have I had this year in a mere 3 weeks. Vermont was great 1 win and 1 2nd place. Gloucester, well Gloucester couldn't of been better. Those to date were my best two career wins ever and two do the double like that made it feel even more amazing. Two different days and two different styles of racing really made me feel at the top of my game. Maybe one week to early or maybe not. I definitely didn't feel amazing the last two days and I know I never travel well east to west, but what can you. All you can do is try and hope things will go well. Luck wasn't on my side this weekend either, the first day I made a mistake of letting Pepper and Allison pass me in the first half of the first lap and sure enough Pepper crashed and on my way of avoiding her as she was getting up, I slid out as well and never got to recover as Pepper and Allison went full gas to get rid of me. I tried and tried but 12 seconds was as close as I ever got in the next few laps and then I was spent.

Today was better but still not my "A" game. Heart rate was super lower both today and yesterday and I know something is always up when that happens. Anyways I gave it a go and lead the first lap and then had to play a bit of games. I was only willing to let Allison lead and as Pepper kept trying to get by I had to accelerate and close the door on her. She ended up crashing numerous of times behind me and that was exactly why I couldn't let her get in front. Anyways to fight her off I let Allison get a couple of seconds on me and could never close it back. She got me by about 20 seconds today (Pedal and Canadian Cyclist some how messed up the results but all well). On the top part of the course I was closing and could see and smell the fear in Allison as she jumped hard out of each corner. But she definitely out road me in the bowl part of the course which I couldn't make up the time for this mountain bike section of the course no matter how hard I tried.

Derrick's race today was a bit of a "shit" show if I can say this word on the blog. If I told you anything about the few mishaps we have both had to deal with in the last few days it has been insane. Pretty funny and pretty amazing how we both handled the situations. For me, one really truly did probably effect my performance (which its nothing a few physio appointments can't fix), the other, well was just a little out of line and insulting. The same for Derrick and the way he came back today in the race after he was blatantly taken out, well that was amazing. I was pretty sure after the race we was going to be ready to rip someone apart, but he didn't even complain. All he could say was "did you see me ride and pass like 10 guys in 2 minutes, look how well I recovered from that". He also had some bad luck with a mechanical and as he road into second place, he then fell back to 4th because of it in the last few laps of the race. No complaints or protests to the officials when I think he would of had a valid case. Anyways, like my little mishap last week with another rider, you never know who was right and who was wrong, or if it is intentional or not, nobody can really make the call but the person who did it. You just have to trust your gut and try to race as fair as you think is fair. It is after all cyclo cross, and people are in for the win and will get there at all costs, and everyone has their own style of riding. Derrick and I both do this for a living at the moment and do try to go as far as we can but as fair as possible, but yes rubbin is racing my friends and it's all part of the game.

Next year is another year and another Nationals. Nationals is an important one, but there is still many other races to be won out there for the season. I definitely know that I had my work cut out for me this past weekend to win it and am not sure even if I had my "A" game if I would of got it on this course. I'm content to keep on trying and keep on racing to my abilities and wait again until next year in Toronto, which is much closer to home for me. And maybe just then I will get the title. Believe me when I do, it will be something special, I thought for sure my 10 UCI wins in North American over the last 13 months was enough preparation but I guess it was not. Nobody said it was going to be easy and if it was, would it be that great.

Thanks again to everyone who has helped us thus far, all the cheerers, supporters, fans, family, coach Dan and sponsors at LG, both from at the race and from a far. We are not even half way done this season, but you have all brought us so far.

NCE

Nationals briefly

2009-10-10T19:55:00.004-04:00

So Tasha was off first. She had an ok ride. But she has been having a problem with her leg going numb in extreme temperatures, and it was bothering her a little today. Pepper bobbled in front of her and she fell back a little and could not overcome the 10 second gap. As soon as Allison saw Natasha was in back they gassed it so she could not let her catch on. Allison and Pepper throttled it for two laps putting in laps faster than the Junior men.
Obviously not the result we were looking for, but this is her first Nationals podium and up to date her luck at Nationals has been awful, so although it is bittersweet, congrats to he on her first Elite Nationals Podium. She knew it wasn't going to be easy. But she is very positive and just said when the time is right it will happen and she will cry lot of happy tears.

I wish I could have had the same positive attitude after my race, but I was a little disappointed/upset initially as I was behind some chaos and lost valuable seconds on the first lap. I guess the lesson here is start better and you won't be behind the chaos. I obviously knew it wasn't going to be a walk in the parc, I came on hard and fast lap 2 and on but the damage was done and I was in a battle with Schooler and Trace for 2nd. I didn't really ride all that well technically on the ride/run ups, as I was gassed from going so hard on the power sections. I guess I just need to concentrate a little more. I wanted it to be a race and I was a little insulted with what the announcers were saying to tell you the truth. They said they didn't even think Jeff was working or sweating and they played an AC DC song that he requested... Not sure maybe I'm a little sensitive, but that's pretty insulting. Good news is now I'm mad. Not angry, but mad like a dog and tomorrow, if i get a good start I'm going to try to rip peoples legs off the bone. I'll tell em when they see me leading to play some Tiesto and see how it feels to Trance out on them.

Hey that's racing though, but I'm aloud to freak out a bit, otherwise I wouldn't be me. As an Elite/Pro it's this kind of fuel that you need to push yourself past your limits. Good ride for Aaron Schooler coming third I think that's his best result and he's an Edmonton boy so good on him for showing up this year. The O town boys Connor and K bomb threw down as well, standing on the podium, just shy of the win...I feel ya.

I wold really like to thank Katherine and Chris for tow us around today and Alexa Sanna Soingeur Race Services, (check out his web site), extra ordinary and his friend Peter Mogg winner of the M1 race for helping us out, I really appreciate it guys. Alex is available for alot of races on the east coast, if you need support, he is the guy for sure, I know we have him reserved for Toronto already. Today went way smoother than last week, nothing worse than changing pedals 5minutes before your start.

Nationals Preview...for Kyle Fry Guy

2009-10-09T20:49:00.003-04:00

So we headed over to Argyle Parc to check out the course. It's similar to last year, but they removed one mountain bike section and added a few really cool Euro like trade marks.

A wicked Fly over, all steel grate..it's sounds like thunder rolling over it, that thing is a monster and it will suck the life out of ya in the middle of the race.

They have lots of tight turns, one that shoots you right out in front of the pit.
This course is similar the Schelde Cross in Belgium, which was the first Euro race we ever did.

They added a cool sand pit...it's mostly a run, but Tasha had strict instructions not to sand in her drive train tonight, unless she was going to clean it herself and we know that was not going to happen.

There's a lot more twists and turns and the steep run up is still steep and it's icy.

Lots of people standing around watching other people take the magic lines through sections. But in reality, the course can change so much in 24 hours after weather, erosion and racing...so no worries.

I never really ride well in warm up, usually I crash a few times and bobble alot. I'm not really the smoothest rider...not at all actually. But I get chop my way through and more than likely tomorrow will be no different. In the past I would stress about not having sections dailed in, but in training it's just kind of riding around and getting a few bursts of speed in the legs...nothing more. It usually takes me half a lap to get it, cause you just don't ride the same speed in warm up and what you did at 15 km/hr is not the same as 20 km/hr.

So yah, we messed around with tire pressure and stuff, tomorrow we'll bring the other tires and we'll take it from there. It's just not worth stressing bout, it will be last minute decisions, but nothing like a little pressure to force you into a decision.

I'm not sure what wheels will be best, we will know about 20 minutes before the race.

It's a good thing this sport teaches you to just go with flow, cause there are always obstacles to overcome, so to speak literally and figuratively.

For me it would have been nice to have the sun shinning and a dry course, but I don't want to be just a one trick monkey, so whatever happens I really have no control over. If the course was dry I would have a smile from ear to ear as it would have been a crit on grass, but I'm still smiling cause tomorrow maybe I win on circuit that on paper I shouldn't, but we don't race on paper..it may look like paper cause it's white, but it's called snow, of that I am pretty sure.

As for Tash, she has proven she can ride mud and on dry, so we'll see if she keeps impressing with the dynamic riding capabilities. After a little bit of drama this week though(none being self imposed) I definitely know she know has what it takes to be champion as she has proved to me that not only has she improved her ability to get over obstacles on any course, but she has really grown as an athlete and a person in the last year with her ability to overcome obstacles in her life. Where there was once self doubt I know she someone who uses positivity to overcome whatever awful situation is thrown at her and she rises above. So in my eyes, she is indeed already a champion and now possesses the mental fortitude to be crowned.

Other than that we got to see coach Dan and his wife, that was nice...someimpressive riding by K bomb and good to see all the competion like Mike and KD and Shawn,Aaron and also to see Kyle Fry...I like this kid, you got to love a kid that eats raw fish!.He is my favorite Northerner for sure.

DSJ

Links and photos

2009-10-09T11:33:00.004-04:00

Tasha with her "beauty cream" after winning Gloucester, photo courtesy of Paul Weiss and Cx Mag. I think this is my favorite shot of Tasha, eve...it says it all.
Here are some of the photos around the Web over the last few weeks, I know it's a little late, but just in case.

Tasha's interview after Gloucester day 1
http://www.cyclingdirt.org/videos/coverage/view_video/235695-nact-3-4-grand-prix-of-gloucester/203040-natasha-elliott-post-race-gp-gloucester-1

Gloucester day 1 video

Pic of me running
http://www.cyclingnews.com

There are a lot more photos and vids but those are some of my favorites.

Edmonton Chill

2009-10-08T16:57:00.002-04:00

Well we arrived in Edmonton and a very familiar face greeted us at the Airport. Well, sort of.

It was none other than one of Canada's best triathletes, and Beijing Olympic Team member Paul Tichelaar. Maybe I'm kind of naive, cause when I saw his name on the emails, I thought that's funny this guy has the same name as the guy from the Olympics. Well after he told me he was doing his swim in the morning and then he could get us on his lunch break....it started to make sense. Anyways, he is housesitting for his in laws and letting us stay in his apt in Edmonton, very cool. Nothing like Olympic memorabilia hanging on the wall to inspire. Cause the weather is frigid and I'm not totally siked to get outside in sub zero weather for a training ride, but it's just the way it is.

THe bikes are up and built, that must be a PB for me. I didn't really mind packing the bikes last night, as a pro it's just part of the job. If you can enjoy packing the bikes, changing cables, ect it becomes a lot more enjoyable. Cause in reality the racing is a very small percentage of time, don't get me wrong it is usually the best part of it, but obviously there is a lot of work that goes in to getting us from point A to B along with the stable of bikes and gear. Especially during Cross season, so much work, travel, but the the reward's are worth it.

Speaking of that, I should have the new Carbon prototype bike soon. But my "job" is train with it and really smack it around and pummel it...oh how fun that will be.

So that's where we are at. I know I didn't really say anything about the "injury" I incurred this week while I was taking a Bottom Bracket off...but I am healing well. In a nut shell, I was torquing down on something and the tool slipped and slammed somewhere very unpleasant that caused me to run around for a few minutes before the bleeding and bruising set in...it wasn't pleasant...it was pretty bad...but without going into too much detail it is better. If this weekend goes as planned, it may make for a good story over a pint. On the other hand if the weekend doesn't go that well it may make for an even better story over a pint. Either way it's gonna make for a funny story for whoever is at the dinner table Sunday night, the more people the better the story will be, trust me.

DSJ

Be leavin'

2009-10-07T10:05:00.003-04:00

We are scheduled to leave tomorrow. Yikes, I'm not even out the door yet for my workout this morning. Bikes...they are not packed, they will have to be worked on after the ride since it's raining cats and dogs.

In my haste of yesterdays post, I totally forgot to thank our wonderful Hostess in Beverley Mass,
Ann Guyer. She gave us shelter and kept us full with the most delicious fish "chowda" (she didn't really have a Baston accent, but it just makes my story more interesting). She even let us invite Robbie O and K bomb over for dinner. Her house was full of really cool art work, some which I noted she was the creator. So far we are two for two on the host housing, thanks Kim and thanks Ann, you were both a huge part of the success.

The title of the post is supposed to be a little bit of a pun. As I was caffeinating (thats my word Patent Pending) this morning I thought that we be leaving today but also the importance of believing in ourselves over the next couple days. I don't really know what I was going to say or write next, it made so much sense but in the time it took to throw on my shorts and jersey, the thought is gone.

Also I really really really want to thank all the people at Garneau who have been phenomenal to meet all of our very numerous demands. We just received some new custom clothes, let me just say the Lite Vent Long Sleeve jersey looks sick, perfect for cross. If you ever need Custom clothing made, LG is the way to go, the clothes are amazing, the fit spectacular and I think it looks sick even in Pink . Send me a line and I'll hook you up.

Ok, rain has stopped, workout must start, luckily we got the word to not overdo it today so there should be no hang over tomorrow. I felt pretty awful last Thursday from our Ballistic Speed workout. Did you know a Cross bike can get up to 50 km/hr? Who knew.

Also I thought of another good name for Blog, "The tales of the caffineated Wall Flour and the Dizzy Squirrel". We are supposed to be hooking up a rider diary from Pedal Mag, maybe I'll throw that at them.

Last thing, Anonymous asked about the "lunch meat" in the previous post. Just for the record, foods that are high in preservatives, sulfites, nitrates and all things un natural to man can cause migraines. Funny enough they even had a blurb about it on Canada AM, with Shamus this morning. Google causes of migraines and you'll see that I'm not crazy...we'll maybe not but at least you'll see that I'm not author of these theories.

DSJ

DSJ

Gloucester and the TSS

2009-10-06T15:46:00.003-04:00

Man, what a crazy weekend and it's just getting crazier by the minute. Tick Tock we're on the clock, less than 48 hours and we're off to Nationals.

So In case you hadn't heard, Tasha basically light it up in MA. She endured through the mud, and pushed her way through to Victory. It was a great win for her. We often talk about Gloucester as where it all started, as it was our first Big Race a few years ago.

I wasn't so good in the mud. Unfortunately I ate some lunch meat Friday, it tasted really good but I have a sensitivity to preservatives and it was partially responsible for causing a migraine on Friday night. I didn't feel that bad on Saturday, but I was not quite 100% and when you race the best guys, being 5% down is not the way to go. Anyways, stuff happens you deal with it and you move on.

Sunday...Tasha killed it on the faster parcours, Laura was giving her a good run for her money, so to speak, but Tasha was in control, very cool, calm and collected. She was doing the Euro shoulder checks. She was riding very assertively, confidently that's for sure. Ricard Fries the announcer said she must have been watching Bart Wellens video's.

I had a great race. Good start, good legs, good head. A few sloppy bobbles, caused my seat post to turn sideways and I rode 2 laps with a crooked seat, I got past it though, stayed focused, then another bobble and my handlebars and stem were crooked...well then I had to pit cause that's just dangerous...if you ever want to challenge yourself try riding through sand with crooked handelbars...I was in a battle against Parbo, Timmerman and Jones for a bit, so a top 5 was just within reach, so I walk away feeling good for the next 6 days.

Lots of things to sort out this week, speaking of that my stuff is in so gotta get the new skinsuits...ciao!
DSJ

Vermont day 1

2009-09-26T21:51:00.006-04:00

Derrick leading Lindine and Danish National Champ Parbo through a corner

Tasha in full speed mode...even the picture looks fast.
Photos courtesy of Martin Valliquette, Magog Race organizer and cross racer.

Greetings from Vermont. We had a rather short drive that turned rather long when Tasha took the steering wheel, and then well I missed the exit as the co navigator and well we got lost.

So we arrived an hour late, but no worries. We are staying with Kim and her daughter Savanah, in Essex Junction. Great family, great food, comfy beds, riding distance to the course.

So today's race, Tash went from the gun, she capitalized on a gap behind her and just motored.
She held the gap and just rode super smooth even riding parts that the master guys wern't riding, nice.

My race, had a good start, but got behind a crash/bobble and had to dig a little to get into the lead group, but they let Timmerman have 5 seconds and I just couldn't pull it back, I picked some interesting spots to maneuver which was a little Euro coming out. Had to wrestle for second and crashed in a rut in front of the barriers, but managed to throw down a good attack and just shy of getting into the lead. To tell you the truth I didn't ride all that great today, but I'll take the podium and it's my first 2nd ever in a UCI race so got to be happy with that.

Tash got the leaders jersey and gets to wear it tomorrow. It's supposed to rain, luckily we brought 12 sets of wheels.

Good day for the Garneau Club chaussures.

DSJ

Nice pic

2009-09-21T13:02:00.002-04:00

Check out this link for yesterday's race coverage in French. All they needed was a nice Picture of Natasha...hopefully we can find one.
DSJ

To start off

2009-09-20T21:46:00.007-04:00

Saturday

In my opinion the most important thing you can do before you start your season is get a good haircut. I would say it's probably more important than actual training. So I made sure to get a good haircut. You see, I cut my own hair. This started a few years ago when Natasha and I were working to race. I was trying to save as much money as possible so I had to do away with my wicked 30$ hair cuts/scalp massage...anyways, for the most part I usually do a good job, every now and then I mess it up a little but no worries, I good clipped on number 2 can fix almost any atrocity. So I got the clipper outs and gave myself the "serious athlete" look.

Then I got the scissors out and started chopping Trey's hair(my sister's baby who we were looking after while she was in TO), who just turned one. My sister thought if she didn't bring him to get his haircut until he was one it would be not as curly as his his brothers. Not sure where she heard this but anyways, we were baby sitting and she was in Toronto, so I cut his hair...don't worry I was nice enough to put it in a zip lock for my sister, just a little bit off the bangs, and a little off the sideburns(not really sure if babies have sideburns) but just a little, she probably won't even notice...
Sunday
SO no now it was time to race. A little warm up in race in Magog today. I like this race.
Tasha did her thing and couldn't quite catch the the 3 speedy junior men in her field, but put on a pretty good show of skill as the race organizer told her he thought she rode the sand better than anyone. We had a big week, going to QC getting the bikes, setting them up, and we were on the tail end of our prep phase so we have been a little cranky the last couple days. I was just hoping we didn't try to get too much done this week. There's not only training but everything that happens in life that creates different types of stress and those things have to be taken into account. It worked out ok, but it was no ideal. Hence this was a training race and a good way to make sure everything is set up for the next month.
So it was actually the first time Tash has won a jersey! all those wins, all those UCI races, road races, crits, lots of tropheys, but never a jersey, nice to see her get one, but I would say there a few more she has her eye on...

It was fun to be at the back of a pack as this was not a UCI race, they did the call up by QC championships and pre-reg order I think I was smack dab in the 4th row... SO it was good to come from the back, I got into the lead in put some time on the guys about half way through the lap and it was over. I pushed super hard for a few laps, but saw 187 on the Polar and there was a strange cramping in my quads so I eased off the gas and just pushed where I had to maintain a good gap, you never know I could have flatted, rolled a tub, you just never know...so it's good to have some time just in case. I think there was a pretty good battle behind me and Steve P got the best of Hugo Houle and Arousen, two LG road guys. Hugo is a power house, he won a lot of Mardi Lachine this year so 1 hour efforts are kind of his thing.

Kiernan Orange put in a stud ride for sure. Man that kid was on fire today! No kidding Tash couldn't catch him.

Best part about today....this is the first time Tash and I have won a race on the same day since Ontario crit champs, so it's been a long time coming...sounds kind of lame, but it's nice. I know it's just a smaller race, but winning just feels good, it's why we race.
DSJ

Cross Clinic

2009-09-17T22:11:00.004-04:00

We held our first Cross Clinic tonight. It was fun. A few people showed up just to check out the new bikes, that's pretty cool. We just gave a few tips and rode around with the guys from the area who showed up. It was also one first events held in conjunction with the new bike shop that just opened in Cornwall, Total Cyclery and Sports, on Pitt street. And yes they will be carrying some cool LG gear, that Tash and I have the pleasure of testing.

Bikes are getting dialed in. We did have to stop about 35 times today to adjust Tasha's seat post, but hey I had mentally prepared myself for the Tasha vs new bike Syndrome. I lost my patience a few times, but I just think "Serenity now, Serenity now". It's not her fault she just has to have all the measurements right, I'm a little bit more slack an I just go by feel a little bit more. Everyone is different, for me it's more about things like my brakes, I have been known to spend way too much time getting them just right. But if we used my go by feel approach to everything, well we'd probably miss the start of most of our races.

Other than that, some of the LG stuff we are testing is really great. We will be using the Merino Wool Long cuff socks . They are perfect, nice and long, cover the tan lines, thin but not too thin, nice cuff, breathable perfect for this time of year. You know socks are a big deal to me. Some of the worst decisions I have ever made revolve around socks...seriously.

I don't quite know if Cornwall was ready to have the Duo cruising around town in Pink kits though...I have been getting some interesting feedback..like "My wife said she saw someone on a bike, bouncing around at a traffice light" then Tash just turn around and looked at me.

Yah I guess that's me I've been bouncing around a little, trying to get the timing right for the double barrier jump, it's a learned skill. I didn't teach that one at the Clinic tonight though, that one you gotta pay for...haha.

DSJ

New bikes

2009-09-14T21:04:00.003-04:00

We arrived at the factory today and met with Karine, who is very patient with our very meticulous equipment needs. She brought us to the bike shop to see Max and Christian to pick up the first set of bikes that we will be riding this year.

Tasha will be riding two of these beauties, I will have one and my "A" bike is a Custom Carbon Cross specially made for me, which we will reveal in the next little bit... It will be slightly different than the others. We wanted to have Tasha riding two of the exact same bikes, as she is notrious for needing her meausurments to be within a fraction of millimeters as she is more meticulous than Eddy Merkx....so ipso facto, I get the "odd" duck.
That being said check out the new rides...

Louis Garneau Steeple X Elite

You may have to be a bike geek to understand some of this but...
This is the 2008 model, pimped up to exceed expectations with an Easton EC 90 x fork.
This model has a very well designed carbon rear triangle with loads of mud clearance and mud shearing carbon stays. The cables are nicely routed along the triangular aluminum top tube to stay clean and out of the way. The down tube is a little bigger than the norm and has a really nice feel to it when snagging the bike up.

The wheels are Super light weight while also being insanely robust, Shimano Dura Ace low profile Carbon Tubulars, iced with the new Vittoria EVO Cross XM tubulars...I guess the "X" is Cross and the "M" apparently stands for mud, this tire has some grip for sure, and for an aggressive tire it rolls really nice. I have used some of the older model Vittoria clinchers and thought they were ok, but the 290 TPI casing definetly has a really supple feel to it and I think I'm going to like it...it won't be a matter of not having enough bite to it for sure.

The bike feels really nice, really snappy, super light and new drive train is always so crisp feeling.
We'll throw em around a little bit more tomorow, but I couldn't believe how nice the Louis Garneau saddle was as well, I've been using the same saddle for a few years now and I thought it was going to be a problem to aquaint it to my butt, but (hahah) they seem to like each other...

I'll really know once I get to our training grounds at Greys and really hammer a few sections.

A big thanks to Karine, who was really patient with us and went over every single microscopic item to make sure that we have every type of glove, sock, hat, bib, shoe, helmet, jersey, thermal layer to make our racing and training as enjoyable as possible. Let's face it, in North America the Cross season starts with almost summer weather and transitions into some heavier fall weather, then it just gets either wet or cold or both and if you're not dressed for it, it just sucks.

If you've ever been to a race with me, you'll know one of the most important things in my prepartion is my socks...I just can't stand having cold feet cause my legs go numb, but I can't stand having my feet being too hot, cause my feet get hot and I can't climb as well when my feet are bothering me. I'm crazy about the details...shoes...if you've ever seen me try on bike shoes...it usually takes a day or two, just to pick between a 41.5 and a 42. I try them on at different times of the day with different socks, it's pretty OCD...anyways...Karine was awesome and she satyed 2 extra hours so we could hand pick everything and we really do appreciate all the attention, it makes us feel really important and who doesn't like that.

Long story short, I got a lot of socks and stuff for my feet and head and Natasha looks wicked hot in Pink Spandex...

DSJ

Why Pink?

2009-09-09T08:41:00.003-04:00

So if you checked up on the blog lately you might of noticed some changes. You maybe be wondering if Derrick has had some lifestyle changes! Nope, things are normal, but we do have exciting news.

Over months of waiting and trying to send out proposals and get the best deal possible for both Derrick and I, we have finally signed for the 2009 cyclo-cross season with non other than Louis Garneau.

Derrick and I will be riding along together this year on the same team, same bikes, same support and same pink kit. This is something we have be striving for over the last few years and what's most exciting is that Louis himself is supporting me (a women) just as much as he is Derrick. This says a lot about Louis and Garneau Sports and I am very excited to have this opportunity.

I struggled over the last few weeks with teams coming back saying they weren't willing to support a female cyclo cross rider as much as a male and it really hit hard. I train just is hard and can beat most men out there locally in the sport so why should I have to compromise on my equipment and what not. Derrick sold me, as well as our idea and dream to Louis and I can't be happier.

With ever new team there has to be break ups with the old and this can be hard and nerve racking. My break up wasn't that bad. They just really couldn't afford the investment in me this year and not only that, I didn't want the team to whip out $1000's of dollars to get my equipment up to par if that meant next year on the road the rest of the team wouldn't be able to get to the same races cause the budget was short. I didn't want to accept a deal or offer that was less than last year as I have worked hard to get better and better each year, so why should I compromise. Garneau Sports is stepping up and supporting me to the fullest and when an athlete gets treated like a star, they preform like one and that's what I expect out of myself this year. No forcing things or trying to prove anything to anyone. I have all the confidence and all the hours to back me up this year.

I've been training super hard like always but differently to last year. 90 % of my training over the last 4 weeks has been on my cross bike. I think I have ridden my cross bike over 45 hours this year and that's way more than I saw last year leading into the race season. Not only that, the hours have been hard and technique has really come a long way when you do it when you are suffering and on the rivet. Yesterdays ride/workout was 3 and a half hours of cross strength/technique and we have this great course out here in Cornwall that Derrick and I designed. Each workout I am going back to it and getting faster and faster through the technical parts of the course. It's truly amazing how different things can be when you train like a cyclo cross racer.

For Derrick his break up was obviously a little harder. See, we both wanted to ride on the same team this season and we wanted to do something locally, but the more we waited and waited and looked at the offers, we couldn't say no to the deal from Louis Garneau. As much as we wanted to be with the same local crew in Ottawa and help out the development of the program is was going to come down to we couldn't afford it. And if we couldn't afford it our race schedule would of been compromised and so would of our performances. We waited until the absolute last minute to see if things could be worked out, but deadlines are set for a reason and since we don't have our new bikes yet this year, a decision had to made. When Derrick saw the dream offer from Louis we couldn't turn it down, it was everything we had be dreaming about and working towards over the last year or so.

So there you have it, that's why the blog is pink! And no Steve, it's not that awful.........well if your a girl it's not that awful, maybe for Derrick but that's a whole other can of worms. I don't know, I kind of think he looks nice in pink.

Also check out the side bar of our race schedule, pretty exciting schedule and it starts in just under 2 weeks. Sorry to say that we will be missing out of some great host housing that we had in Michigan, Wisconsin and Kentucky last year. We will miss you guys. Remember Jim the little secret we told you (about tire pressure) and we are sure you will take top honors in your category again this year at the Planet bike races.

We will also be able to update the blog this year a lot better and sooner after the races as we added the twitter account. We'll twitter a line after each race this season to let all the local support and fans know how we did.

So our new team doesn't change our connection to the local support and community. We holding some clinics out here in Cornwall in connection with the newly opened bike store The Total Cyclery. We also will be doing at least one OBC race this fall between our trips to the US as this is where it all began for us. The dreams were started here and they have come a long way over the last two years and are going to go a lot further.

NCE

What is the lesson here?

2009-08-28T12:58:00.003-04:00

So, some pretty grueling times down at Dynamic duo headquarters. Train, train, train almost coming off the tracks. Man, I feel like I've been hit by a train most mornings. Then I start to feel good after about 3 espresso's, then i go do something like train hard and back to square one.

Bad news, we too are hooked on HBO's Rescue Me series. We borrowed it from the Real Robbie O, yah the guy that almost won the A crit the other night. Well when I say borrow, I mean we took it and left a note note saying we would bring it back next time we come back to bug him.
So we are into season one and this show is awesome.

Today we learned a lesson. We were running at the Cornwall Marina, doing hill repeats, and Natasha threw off her sunglasses cause they were falling off her face. After descending the hill, she realized someone had taken them. I ran after the couple, who said they were collecting empty beer bottles and they said that they did not take them. I ran back to Natasha, then we both ran after the pair, figuring that they were lying to us. This guy told me to F#4K off, then I just wouldn't take no for an answer, he pulled a beer bottle on me and told that he was crazy and he would mess me up. I wasn't really scared, as I've actually been hit with a beer bottle before and it didn't break, good thing I didn't remember when a friend of mine had one broken over his face, as I just remembered that and that was actually really bad, anyways if he was a real bad ass he would have smashed it first then threatened me with it.

So they weren't going to give them back(the sunglasses), until I said the glasses were not worth anything but they were given by someone very special who is no longer with us. That part was not really true, but I thought it was our only shot to get them back without getting a little busted up and the girl finally gave them back for fear that her boyfriend was going to loose it on me.

So the first lesson here is when I originally came up to them and asked about the glasses I should have taken off my glasses, he could lie to me, cause he could not look me in the eyes. Second lesson is don't throw your glasses on the ground. Third lesson is if you want to run fast in a cross race, just pretend like the guy in front of you stole your wife's glasses.

DSJ

Big week

2009-08-24T09:10:00.002-04:00

Last week was one big week of training all right. I'm not going to bore you with details, well maybe a little, but the approach to our preparation this year is markedly different from last year. Don't get me wrong, it's just training and there is no right and wrong, you can have the best program laid out, but if it's not right for you, it's not going to give you the desired goals.

When I think back to last year, I definitely know that there some things I could have been doing different. So this year the training is a lot more practical, ie riding the Cross bike. Previously we were so concerned about about power numbers and pushing those limits that we used are energy to improve the numbers. But in the end, it's not even really about numbers, or heart rates. It's about being fast and dynamic. All you have to do to win a bike race is get your tire across the line first, that's it. I know it almost sounds too simplistic, but if you just work backwards from there, a lot of things fall into place.

When I saw the program Dan had laid out for us, I was a little concerned that it didn't look hard enough for me, but after yesterday, I was in bed a 8:57 and up this morning more than 12 hours later, paining in my entire body and there is no doubt in my mind I will be better prepared than last year. I don't ever remember running out of gears on a Cross bike. What's cool is it's got lots of "hard" training, but allows me to have some fun in the middle of a workout and improve aspects of my riding that need improvement.

Last year we did allot of our technique training tiered, and for us, it just didn't cut it. Really, for us to improve the technique, we must be rested going into it, and bring at least a 7/10 intensity to the ride. That doesn't mean that we're not buggered after the ride, oh boy.

Anyways, that's our reality right now. Cross bike riding, training, some running and trying to sort out the bikes for the season. We're geeks about our preparation, people must think we look very funny chasing each other up flights of stairs, like two little squirrels. But hey as we have not been racing, we got to go out and help marshall the Camp Fortune MTB race on Wednesday and we even caught a bit of the Cornwal Tri yesterday morning during our breakfast run and who did we see but none other than the man himself, Rick Hellard...our former run/bike/swim coach. How funny is that.

So we're going back to Ottawa tomorrow as we're going to tri (get it) and keep the legs turning with an NRC crit, hopefully we can get that 8 corner course I missed out on a few weeks ago.

D

Cycling Logic

2009-08-13T07:49:00.002-04:00

So we've been up in Ottawa hanging out at my Dad's house, working a little bit, running and once Tasha meticulously places her seat a la Eddy Merckx, tape measure in hand we'll be off for a Cross ride. Funny that i can ride almost 300km in a day and think nothing of it, but then do a 30 minute jog and whoa...really feel where those muscles are attached to the ass bone.

Tuesday nights NRC training crit was pretty cool, short course, the turns come at you so fast. Tasha even covered some attacks at the start, it was awesome to see her ride like that, just like one of the guys, except sexy and does not reek of sweat. I was able to ride through some pretty severe pain as I just wanted to push through the pain and I was able to bring an intensity that I often lack during training races, but I sure found it...boy oh boy.

Anyways I picked up some Francesco's coffee from Greg at Cyclelogik...we did a medium grind of the Mexican Blend for the bodum at my dad's house. He uses Folgers so you know that I had to make him a good cup, I think he's hooked.

OK, Corss time.
D

Yikes!

2009-08-10T09:10:00.002-04:00

Yikes, is right.
Well this week was interesting....the body always has a funny way of welcoming new activities. I usually wake up and pretty much feel like someone has pounded on my legs with some sort of meat mallet to tenderize them for human consumption. So this week was no different after a couple of runs, mixed in with a few secret training sessions.

So I'm feeling pretty awful right now and it reminded me of something....pretty much the way I was feeling in Feburary and March...sweet.

I've been trying to come to terms with my season, am I happy with the way it went? Is it over or should I just rest up and put in a few digs in September and get a few more wins checked off.
It's always hard to say, kind of but not really. If I look back at the "objectives" I set at the start of the year, I've not really achieved all of them, but slightly overachieved others.

Sure I wanted to win alot of races, but no matter how many I would have win, it would really never be enough. But as I was reading a book "The Rider", by Tim Krabbe, I read an interesting passage. He was talking about one of the great riders in Tour de France history and saying that this guy used to win races in a grand way, not a wheel sucker or an opportunist, but a great bike rider who won it his way. Funny enough this gave me a feeling of satisfaction and joy. Seriously. Cause that's the way I like to win, big time, solo hands in the air, the only one in the photo. Not to say I don't want to win a sprint from a break off the front, cause if I would have got that part of the equation right I would have pretty much won 50% percent of my races, which is an absolutely ridiculous percentage in this defeatist sport. But when I was on form from late May, winning GP Charlevoix, totally on fire through Beauce, lighting it up on Preston and breaking away at the Tour of Quebec, it was great. Not only that but I think contributing to Aaron winning Nationals as well was a highlight of the year for me as well.

So, long story, but I think it's worth while to reflect a little in order to be mentally ready for the next chunk ahead and also not go chasing things for the wrong reasons. Once I start chasing money, points, number of wins or anything empirical, it just kind of looses it's meaning a little.

I don't race my bike for that. I do this because I like pain and suffering or actually I like how good life feels when the suffering is over and life doesn't hurt anymore. Anytime I've won a race it's because I have been more prepared to accept pain and let go of fear...that's it.

Sometimes I think that's all training really is. It's just as much about preparing your mind to deal with pain in quantified amounts and resting a little to be fresh enough to let yourself hurt and not loose focus. For me usually when words like, awful, painful, agonizing remind me of a particular training session, that means it was good no matter what the wuss meter read. If someone could invent a power meter with a suffer factor on it, that I'd buy into. Then to coach would say "today's ride, 10/10, make yourself bleed blood and try to push the pedals so hard you feel muscle coming off your bones"...that would be fun.

Reason I talk about the pain so much is I'm mentally preparing myself for the next chunk, and making sure I'm ready to deal with it and know what I am getting myself into. If I wasn't prepared for this then it was not time to start. Think about Cross, one hour to put four hours of pain into...if you win this race it's gonna hurt alot.

Ok, nough about that. More of this to come in my coaching book, chapter one, enjoying the pain.
It's not for eveyone.
DSJ

Switch it up

2009-08-07T12:46:00.002-04:00

So we decided to switch it up for a while. With no racing for the next couple weeks, we thought it would be a good time to work some kinks out before September.

So Tash and I woke up and threw on the NB's for a hefty 16 minute run. Funny that I wasn't really breathing hard, but it was slightly painful as I hadn't eat or had any coffee, just a very bizzare feeling in my legs...kind of like cycling without a bike. Reason behind this is slightly masochistic, but anyways, it definetly put the fun in not fun...or I guess put the not in not fun, yah that sounds more like it. I've been trying to deplete myself of all carbohydrates just to see how it feels to run on empty and train my body to use fat as energy...also not fun.

Poor Tasha has to deal with one grumpy boy...sorry, not enough calories, but hey you just have to make yourself hurt every now and then old school cycling style. It's not really the most scientific method, or condusive to performance, but cycling is a weird thing and the body needs to be shocked every now and then to really perform later.

So lookig very forward to chicken Shawarma soon.

DSJ

MTL-QC Classic

2009-08-03T14:45:00.004-04:00

For sure it was a classic. Long day, 250 km, 5hr 31 min as well with the distance and the torrential rain. I was off the front in some sort of break for most of the race. Put in a big effort with a Kier and Vives with about 35 km to go...but it got reshuffeled and we were a group of 6. I wanted to attack on the last climb but I couldn't get any traction cause there was so much water running down the road.

I kind of did another move with a few km to go, but I didn't have the strength to ride away.
It was still a good race, I raced my race. I don't really have any excuses. THe guys who beat me did a good job, for sure, so good on them.

Was I disapointed...for sure. Did I want to cry...almost. Did I? no way.
But it was a bit of a bummer.

I guess I wouldn't really change a thing though, cause I race the way I race cause I am who I am.
THat's what drives me, that's what made me get on bike today, after a race like and start working towards the next objective...it's just the way it is.

I had a big crash a few years ago in this race and I'm glad to walk away from this one this year.
I can't say I didn't have a really big lump in my throat everytime I see the sign for Trois Riviers.

Hope teamate Chris is ok, as he hit the deck pretty hard. ALso my LG buddy Hugo apparently broke his collar bone. SO best wishes to my wounded amigos.

Also thanks to all the RWR staff and Kevin Fields ,Paul Smaulders, Sean Wakefield ,Nathan's GF and the lovely Natasha for feeding, driving and logistisizing, this race requires lots of support and these guys and gals did a great job.
There should be more races like this around here, it's the real deal.
DSJ

Back from France, bombs will make you scared but bats will make you dance

2009-07-31T07:21:00.002-04:00

Greetings...
So Tasha is back from France...I'l let her tell you about her exploits, but it sounds like it was a pretty interesting trip. In Orly, on the way home home, apparently a bomb went off at the airport, then in the plane they hit some major turbulence and the planes nose went straight up, and caused people to scream and be sick and panic.

I picked Tasha up at the Dorval airport and I was so happy to see her that I left a few hours early, so I parked in economy and walked through half the parking lot to get there...then waited and waited. But a funny thing occured, I never really understood that airports were such a good place to make sociological observations. I could not get over how much joy and happiness was around the arrivals area as people were so excited to see their loved ones. I don't ever remember seeing so many happy faces in an airport. So, I walked upstairs to the departures area ans sure enough it was almost the complete opposite, people nasty, crabby, sulking, anxious, it was almost contagious. You would think it would be the opposite, people are all excited to leave and sad they are coming home, but this is not the case. All this to say, that it's good leave and go away and experience the world but it really allows you to just appreciate what you have when you come back.

Ok, nough SOC101. So the other night we are watching TV, well, Tash is sleeping on the couch and I'm doing Yoga poses, I sit to watch the finale of So you think you can dance and I see a bird in our living room...well no it's not a bird...it's a bat! I jump from my chair, yell, "bat, bat bat" trip over the lazy boy, and fall down trying to stay low to the ground so the bat does not get in my hair. Tash jumps, screams and comes upstairs. George had to go wrestle it outside. I have been having recurring thoughts about batman movies and every time I hear a noise I think there is a bat hiding upside down. Tash thinks I'm a big whimp. I told her I would have gone it to get the bat if I had a hockey helmet, catchers mit and tennis racket...I did this once before while I was in college dressed like this. Scary stuff those things have rabbies and stuff.

Other than that, Sears had the poor man's Espresso machine on sale so after about 20 hours of research and contemplation, I did it, I bought an espresso machine. Needless to say a couple days in and I did 2 five hour rides back to back, the first one I avg'd 39 km an hour for the first 100 km, and that was a loop...then I went super hard for the next bit and then insanely hard bits for the last hour...wow, that hurt. So my concerns this week have about how not to make a mess when transfering the coffee from the burr grinder to the espresso basket...lots of coffee on the floor. I think it's a a learning process. Also went through a bag of Kicking horse 454 in 7 days, by myself. In Cornwall there's not really much to do, so the cheap bugger that I am , I can justify spending a couple extra dollars on some good coffee since it is pretty high up there in there in the hierarchy of training...good coffee=good riding, so there it is. I'm not on the Robbie O Rancillio Espresso level yet...but everyone has to start somewhere. I even read an article about home roasting coffee, apparently you can do it pretty cheap. So look out for Dynamic Duo Brew, coffee darker than the tan on my legs...
That was funny.
Derrick

Natasha mixing it up

2009-07-24T14:52:00.003-04:00

I just got off the phone with Natasha and she sounds like she is having fun. She says she's getting all crazy and putting the hurt on...today finished in a bunch sprint and apparently it was chaotic.
It's really fun to read the french updates, it's so dramatic.

I've decide to take this weekend off of racing and just do, well, a little training and mostly just not travel. I wanted to make the trip to Prov's but it's just not in the cards. I feel ok, but I know that my punch was not 100% last weekend. It's actually funny as I was watching the Tour, Paul and Phil were talking about current World Champ, Alessandro Ballan. They said he's only won 9 races in his professional career.
Moral of the story...
it's not just about winning lots of races, it's about just winning the right ones.
DSJ

Weekend wrap up

2009-07-20T09:45:00.002-04:00

Yeesh...I wish I would have some big introspective thoughts into what went through the engine room this weekend, but I think it is simple, it just wasn't there. Wether or not it was self imposed by a ridiculous amount of training during the week or some misFORTUNE, I really don't know. Funny that I went all year without getting a flat and then one in the uphill during the OBC race, then another on the way to the crit. Call me superstitious...but that was a strange coincidence, just like it just wasn't meant to be.
Yesterday was just painful, I didn't really enjoy the style of racing and I probably made matters worse by letting my ego get the best of me.
Good news was that my parents came from Cornwall and I hopped a ride back with them to C wall as something was just not right being back in O town.
It's a actually really funny to think that as a bike racer, I have so many idiosyncrasies, I'm surprised I don't carry a horseshoe and walk around throwing salt over my shoulder.
I'm not sure I've talked about this before, but when your going good, it's kind of like a drug...you win it feels great, you are the Boss. But when anything but winning happens you have lost and you are searching for that victory and you just wanna ride yourself into annihilation to get it again.
I guess that's why so few people ever understand the mind of an elite cyclist. Winning is the penultimate goal. In a lot of ways its good, that's why you eat salad intead of french fries and why you ride 6 hours instead of 2, to keep having success on bigger level. I think that the guys who are really successful though learn how to care enough enough about their performance to be mad and frustrated, but then get over it in order to rise up to the next challenge.
So today's training will consist of the follwing...mini put golf...swimming...Wii...and not talking to anyone older than 10 years old.
DSJ

Elliott closing in...

2009-07-18T15:14:00.002-04:00

So I still haven't spoken to Tasha, but it looks like she is now 2nd in the QOM competition.
The girl that is leading has more points, obviously, but I don't know what the scoring on the hills is, so impossible to tell how close it really is.
I would say it would be smart to sandbag the tt, which is tomorrow am, then try and get in a break without the QOM jersey, but Tasha is only seconds out of a top 10 overall, so hard to say, if it's an uphill tt she'll throttle it...so who who knows...can you tell I am missing her? I am stuck to having conversations with myself and making fictitious situations in my mind "...of all the things I 've lost, I miss my mind the most" (Ozzy Ozborn).

OBC and Tour de Bretange

2009-07-18T13:22:00.002-04:00

Ok, OBC GP, woke up late, good thing bag was packed had 9 minutes to gather my things. Raining, cold, race starts, not bad, then flat, frig, Nash gave me a front wheel, chase back.
Get into break, not good today, barely pull through, not good in the rain today...could not put the hurt on, held on for 5th in the break, not great but oh well, Aaron was 7th pulled away from the pack.
THe thing about winning and is, it's a little bit of an addiction and when you loose it's a pretty shity feeling, but alas.....
On a better note , i read that Natasha is slowly moving up the ranks, she was 29th yesterday and sits 3rd in the QOM competition. Hopefully she had energy today, cause bike racer lifestyle does not fit well with 745 start today...hopefully she took the DD energy and put it to use!

Still have not talked to her, I hope she is having fun and can put the hurt on the girls from DSB Bank.
Tomorrow is another day.

DSJ

Natasha in France

2009-07-16T23:24:00.002-04:00

Apparently, she will be doing the Tour de France!
The other women thought her legs were too sexy and have told her to race the men's race.
No that's not true. Apparently she finished in the pack today as 2 riders got away with 10km to go and she was in the bunch, so no worries.
http://courses.femininesassociees.over-blog.com/categorie-1228597.htm
You can read about it. Haven't talked to her as she is without Internet...I hope she is ok, without Internet that is, hahah. But seriously I'm sure she is fine...last I heard she was working on her French!
I went to Shawarma Palace and the dude gave me double chicken and garlic sauce for her...
but holly shit, I tried to ride my bike after that as I am commuting from Pincrest and wow...it took almost one hour to get home and I almost threw up garlic and pickled turnups...but it was just a burp...it almost smelled as bad as the vomit smell I encountered as I tried to take a short cut through the Byward market...but that wasn't me.
Anyways, bike riding is not to be done post Shawarma. I rode with flip flops and got passed by 3 people on the bike path!
Other than that, I write her emails and she does not get them, I just want to ride my bike for hours ans I even did a couple shifts at the CHC as a man nurse.
They said I looked like I belong on a beach as I am super laid back...they should see my face when I'm throwing down with 20 km to go, they wouldn't think I was laid back Luke then eh? Either that or I'm so endorphinated from the k's before work I'm just happy to be there.

DSJ

the happenings

2009-07-14T21:56:00.002-04:00

I haven't been posting that much lately as the gypsy life has it's way of making time fly away. You would think that I would have all this spare time to just talk about what's going but it's not the case. Well maybe now, but lately it's been busy.

It's really nice to hear the positivity from the people in Ottawa in relation to the success RWR is having this year. It really goes to show what can happen when you put a good group of guys together and everyone has a role to play. I think would have to describe my role as some sort of wild animal with rabbies. Funny though how it has somehow given me an extra bit of confidence this year and I think it is pretty apparent. People have been asking what is different this year, and I'm not really sure, but I know that something is different. Not to be too philosophical, but my desire is different. It has taken a little while, but slowly after making the decision to ride full time, it is coming together bit by bit and things are astronomically different inside my heart. I find myself almost ripping the bar tape off sometimes when I ride. Like I watched David Miller try to go solo the other day and it inspired me to do the same thing in the crit, ok it was the tour of QC and not France, but an effort is an effort.

Even since Preston things have changed, funny enough. When I was off the front I just concentrated on thinking a few things, but this week I almost didn't think, I just shut something off, it's hard to explain, but I just did what I knew I had to do. Shit and Sunday the sprint was pretty close, I've never been at that level before....or maybe I have but just never really believed it. I don't really know what I'm trying to say. Today I wanted to do a ride before the the crit and I ended up riding 220km's today and still drilling it in the crit...it's crazy.

Funny how we always talk about athletes developing over the course of years, but the last 6 months for me have been huge and I'm no spring chicken. I guess alot of my philosophies of training have changed this year, not as scientific, no testing with lactate or numbers, I mean I look at the data but not more than five minutes, it just doesn't mean what I thought it meant.
The just go by feel approach a little more. But that being said, it is important to actually know what you are trying to feel and understand the demands of the particular racing you want to excel at. Aaron and I have had some good chats about training and that guy knows alot, he has an approach to training that may seem a little medieval, but it obviously works. I guess as athletes and coaches always looking for this magical bullet, but really I think we just make things alot more complicated than they really need to be. Seriously.

With Natasha in France I'm staying at Chateau Norm and Jane and au contraire to home, they are the ones cooking so it's pretty amazing...ok I sleep on an air mattress, but hey it's actually pretty comfy. Apparently Tasha is staying with a family in France and she always has their
dog slobbering on her, and also some air line Stewart was hitting on her on the way to France.
So far so good, at least they appreciate beautiful women in France.
DSJ

Tour of Quebec

2009-07-13T16:23:00.002-04:00

So the Tour of Qc went well. Aaron got in the move the first day, came 3rd.
Then he won the TT in the Am, I won crit in the PM.
It was pretty cool as my dad was there to watch and we woke up the next day to see a full page artcle and picture in the Journal de Quebec.

Maybe I was a little too fired up for stage 4 as I attacked from the gun over and over and over and was pretty knackered in the last 3 km's and had the square root of nothing for the finale.

Sunday's course was pretty tough, a 21% gradient climb, short circuit x 17 laps.
We weren't able to capitalize on moving Aron into the green jersey, I went for sprint points and ended up 2nd in the black jersey competition, most combative rider.
We made a slight tactical error I think when I chased a bike reg dude down but it actually made the pace ballistic up the climb and Aaron barely lost contact and no one was interested in helping him re join the front group.
SO I just waited and played my cards in the sprint, I covered a jump then initiated the finale and lost by a bike length to Dionne and Otavio nipped me by a tub for 2nd.

RWR finished up 3rd in the tem GC, I was 5th in GC, 2 3rd's and 2 stages, pretty happy with that.

Thanks to the team for the support and the good efforts.

Tasha is in France...she even learned how to ask for hot water in french and she told me she will get her picture in the local paper as well...the challenge is out!
DSJ

Fitchburg Longsjo Classic

2009-07-07T08:01:00.004-04:00

Tuesday blog post of last weeks race...yah it was pretty hard as I had Internet but just really didn't have the desire to write after doing each stage.

This race was named after Art Longsjo(pronounced Long'show) an American cyclist/speed skater who was the first person or perhaps American to compete at both the Winter and Summer Olympics in 1954. Two years after this he died in a car accident. He was from Fitchburg, MA and they created this race in his memory. This year was the 50thy anniversary of the race.

The hotel we stayed at was called the Crocksette Inn, it was not the nicest hotel, but the dinning room had all these pictures from years past, as everyone who is anyone in North American cycling has been to this race. It had pictures of a young young Lance, Greg LeMonde and others along the dinning room wall.

Anyways enough about that, this was a fast race for sure. Tour de Beauce it was not, the PRO men had a field of 180 guys. And it was all pro guys as they even had another cat 2 race for the Elites who were not pro...even the women's field started with 130.
This race was fast from the gun. The thing about American racing is it is usually fast, short courses, crit like in nature, but put 180 guys on small circuits that wind and go up and down...

We started the show' with a 15 km TT, it was a pretty cool course, with lots of fog. It went ok for both Tash and I, but proved that "ok" in a NRC race is worth about 40th place...ouch. Funny thing is I was going pretty fast...just goes to show you that tt's must be practiced.

Fridays road course was a zinger. 5km circuit with a steep 200 meter climb that was proceeded by a 100 degree corner in which you had to jam on your brakes, the was pinned at 60km/hr single file on the back side of the course. I attacked once when it started raining and shortly after my glasses fogged up, I took them off then got a piece of debris in my eye while the roads litterally flooded in front of us and I went backwards and was jsut a little too far behind to make the break that stuck. Tash made the front group, but just lacked some positioning in the uphill finale.

Saturday was the queen stage, 180 km for the boys and 120 for the girls. Man it was hard for sure. I covered some moves, got in a little mini break that came back, positioned myself well, but just was a little too far back on the last lap and had to close a bit of a gap at the top of the climb and it cost me in the end, I finished in the main group, but had used that top end needed for the end one lap too early.
It was a nice 200km of riding though as with the warm up and a little ride after I was at 200km for the day. Also, we hit 96.9 km/hr on the downhill...yah I told you it was fast. I was actually looking down a few times and saw 93km and tucked a little lower to try and hit 100...but just couldn't hit it.

Tasha was going for sprint points and apparently dusted the first few uphill sprints so convincingly the Collivita team gave up the chase uphill and waited for the pack to help.

Sunday Natasha wanted to try to get into top 3 for points as there was some sweet $$, but without a lead out her efforts were good, but not quite enough to get it. Good on her for mixing it up in the sprints with theses teams as I think she learned some good lessons about positionning and timing in these types of efforts.
I wanted to do a good warm up before the crit as this race was supposed to be preparation for next week and beyond but it was super hot and muggy so I barely rode 20 minutes before the race. An early break went and I just waited and gambled that it would come back as this was going to be a two hour crit. Natasha gave me some good feedback about the circuit and she was spot on...there were several places to move up without effort, but it had to be done slowly and I basically went from the back to the front and figured out how long it took me to do this. I had to do something to keep my mind focused as two hours is a long time to go round and round. So I drifted back, but not as far and did this again, then i stayed near the front as I could tell the race was actually starting, the break had been out all day, was loosing time. THe team of the leader of the race, those guys were going backwards, it was getting aggressive. This this guy from BMC team did the craziest move in front of the corner trying to prove that he was a big shot. Man this got me so mad as he basically tried to take me out...I wanted to punch him...but I just sprinted by him in the next straight away, I sprinted up to him and I was so mad I just kept on accelerating and found myself in a great position near the front...shortly after it was go time.
I went from the front to the break and rode through them and a couple guys joined, we were off.
We had a bout ten guys then Charles Dionne came across with two others I believe so we had 13 guys and we were in it for the win! I knew Charles was the guy to watch, obviously.
But with 3 laps to go they called out the Gamblers prime. It clicked, this is my shot, I got myself into place, I had to fight a little then on the last straightaway I waited and times it perfect to come around three guys from Team Type 1 to just get it at the line. Very close. I came around the outside just squeezing through a small hole that only Glen Rendall or I could fit through. People were shocked to see me come through as it looked like they had it and the announcer called out the wrong name as I went across the line. Ok this this cost me going for the win, as I finished 9th out of this group, which 9th actually is a good result at an NRC race, but lets just say it was worth it. Maybe you won't hear about it on Cycling news, and maybe I had the legs to win today but I took a gamble and it payed off. Sometimes you have to roll the dice. Really, it would have been nice to win, but the opportunity was in front of me so I did what came naturally without over thinking things.

A little respite today and I'm off to Tour of Quebec tommorow. Rest is for the wicked.
PS I knew it was going to be a good weekend as my number was 88...double infinity when it was sideways. Am I superstious? Maybe a just a little stitous.....but not super.

ahhhh I get it.....

2009-06-29T13:03:00.002-04:00

Ok, so I thought I was being watched yesterday...I guess I should have read PEDAL mag....see the last two paragraphs...now I get it...I didn't check the WWW the week of the race to not get too hyped about things...
http://pedalmag.com/index.php?module=Section&action=viewdetail&item_id=16085
who knew? everyone except me...oh well.
DSJ

Road Nationals..Aaron and RWR take Elite Title!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-06-29T09:24:00.003-04:00

Since my Dad tells me that my blog posts are way too long I'll get right to the point.

Tasha did the
TT on my bike, she went pretty well but had a slight mechanical at 4km to go as the shifter slipped out of the bar end as she hit a speed bu,p at 50km/hr it kind of freaked her and she tried to put it back in while coasting on the downhill but still salvaged 12th position after not pedalling for a bit. Not a bad way to spend her birthday...we had to keep

Aaron in the middle, RWR Elite National Champ!

celebrations to a minimum as the weekend was pretty busy, but we'll eat some cake soon.

Her road race started off the gun, I rode up part of the course to watch the women's field that shattered in the first 10km. It came to a bunch sprint at the end and Tasha got boxed in and finished up 11th. She said she had to start her sprint late as she knew where she wanted to be but just couldn't get there. Good thing is she realizes that the tittle was there and a few little changes here and there and she would have been in it for the win, even in a group kick.

Mens race. Well...I'm still shocked. All week, I've been preparing myself for the possibility of winning the title. I knew it was possible, I believed in myself and I was not scared to risk loosing it in order to win it. Aaron and I drove to the course together in the morning and went over some scenarios and we discussed what the best case would be. He basically asked me how he could contribute to help me win. So we set up our game plan and let it roll. It played out perfect the tempo oin the first climb was super easy, the main thing we were worried about is the race going off too fast and Aaron not being there in the first little bit as too many people would be in the way. I was right at the front on the first climb, as in first wheel I wanted to attack, but as I didn't see Aaron, I just waited and let others play it out. SO I started covering and some moves went, Aaron covered a few and then it just went. I tried to go across but guys were on my wheel and there was no way in hell I was just going to roll away. I tried a few more times to go across, but the numbers just didn't work and I just let it go. I was a perfect scenario, have a guy in the break, sit on, counter if it gets caught. Although you would think that rolling in the pack is easy, it's still pretty hard, especially when the surges in speed are just so taxing.

Anyways, gap goes up to 8 minutes, I smile, I know that there is a bout a 60% that they will stay away, the gap goes to ten minutes, I was about 90% sure that it was going to stick. So I covered moves and just let Aaron do his thing. Boy did he ever, although he didn't win the sprint, he came 4th, but he ends up being the Elite National Champion. So RWR colors fly the National Jersey for 364 more days and Aaron has to figure out if he is going to go to Worlds, get carded by sprot Canada, good thing it's not an Olympic year or else he'd have to go to London!

Man, who knew? Well turns out I did. Oz Bakker was also in the break and I knew those guys would roll it so hard. Obviously the guys from the other teams underestimated a bunch of guys they have never heard of.

In a perfect scenario, I should have came 3rd in this race as I would have had a ticket to sit on the guys chasing, but a lot of attacks can happen during 180 km's and I did alot. You may not hear about it on Canadian Cyclist or Pedal, you may not see any pictures, but I know I did a good job and although I wanted to win, Aaron is great guy he has been at this forever and I'm glad that I have contributed to help him win the biggest race of his career and truely the crowning moment in his Cycling career.

I'll tell you why it happened though. It's because we were both willing to let the other win and we both had the ability to do it in different ways. Neither of us were selfish, we just stuck to the plan and did what we had to do. Good on Osmand for coming 2nd as well. I know there has been some friction between the clubs and personalities and stuff, but all that BS aside, he's super strong and as far as racing hard goes, man the guy races hard...so good on him.

Not bad for a bunch of 30 so0mething guys with full time jobs and families. Aslo notes that Warrnen Mac cracked the top group in the TT and rolled in 5-6th I was told, I hadn't looked at the results yet.

So yah, that's how I see it. It was kind of wiered though casue after the break went I just had a feeling that it wasn't really the DSJ day...I felt it during the week, but I wanted to win under sunny skies, like I always do...crazy, I know but I would rather win the sun.

Last thing...as an aside, I did manage finishing 7th in the Elite race, so actually that's somehow a really great result as well. But funny enough I cracked pretty bad and cramped up during the last lap and I was dead last in the second group and a few guys opened up gaps that were just a little too big and I got caught. But I just waited and drove it at the right time and somehow made it back to the first group then rode right through them. So moral of that story, even when you feel like shit just hold on, don't panic cause maybe you just need a few minutes and everything will work out.

DSJ

RWR take Preston St Crit!

2009-06-22T10:02:00.003-04:00

The RWR SQUAD put in a good day and showed the colors yesterday on Preston st.

i casually rolled down to Preston st to see local junior Matteo win the junior race in style, off the front, so maybe I had a little inspiration. The second race of the day had Robbie O rolling in the break and just missing out on the win, even after almost everyone from the break crashed at one point during the rainstorm that was almost choreographed to the start and finish of the second race. I was little worried about the 140 lbs of pressure in the 21 mm tires I was rolling , so had to hit the eject valve and rode a modest 110 as there was a 4 foot cobble stretch across the last corner that did not agree with 3mm of tire contact at 50km/hr...especially if it rained.

The funny thing is, the bigger the race, the less nervous I become, World Cup, Nationals, Tour de Beauce, NO PROBLEM...BUT LOCAL RACE, I GET A LITTLE NERVOUS. Maybe it's because over the last couple years I've had to train through a lot of the races, or i just have trouble bringing the intensity that fires me up at bigger events. So I guess the pressure that I was feeling was cause there was really no excuse. Really, it's June, I'm fresh off Beauce, Nationals next week...this is my time, there was 1000$ for an hours work, you 'd have to be a little silly not to want to go well. That being said, it's never easy to win and obviously they are not just going to let me ride away.

I will have to say that who ever thought of getting Aaron to ride with us is brilliant as it really changes the dynamic of the racing. Not only is it one less guy to chase down, but it's one of the strongest guys working with you and not against you. Coupled with Glen having some good form from 6:1 ration RWR plan(for every 6 hours racing do approx 1 hour training) and G Reain throwing down some Blue Steel attacks, it makes for a wicked strong team.

We had a rough plan of what we wanted to do for the race, basically what we did on Tuesday night's dress rehearsal Bill Patterson Memorial. I thought maybe we let the cat of the bag but I guess no one was paying attention, cause it was a pretty familiar move. Anyways that's not to say I didn't attack about 87 times trying to stir the pot, but it would not have been possible without Glen, Greg and Aaron.

I'm not sure if you could see the little nuances from the sidelines, but the little things like Glen going to the front at the start to single file it, Aaron just lighting it up making hard to just hold the wheel, let alone attack, Greg's perfectly times attacks and tactful positioning in the the rotations, these are the things that make bike racing fun! To have a loose plan (like a wizards sleeve) then to actually execute it, man it like a good trance song, like Tiesto live at the Gellderdome, it just doesn't get much better than that. Sure it's one thing to win a sprint, but anyone that knows me, knows that that is the way that I like to win with "no else in the photo". Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but when it does it's sweet.

I don't really remember what lap I went off on but it was after Aaron was driving it and I do remember a few key thoughts going through my head. One was "why did you put yourself in this situation, again, you know this is going to hurt", the other was "you like to hurt, this is why you do this, this is why you can win, cause no one else wants to hurt like this right now,"...luckily that latter voice triumphed and and I just rode at 90-95% until i heard JS was closing the gap then I rode outside of myself for a bit, so much that as I had been pedaling through all the corners I clipped a pedal on the first corner. Funny enough it was just like a little fart at your in laws and I just pretended it didn't happen. "What? That wasn't me". It got really hard for a few laps but the damage was done and there was no way they could close, with 2 laps to go go i knew for sure it was mine. I must have looked back 16 times though on one lap as I was a little panicked about only having 10 seconds, but the RWR guys did the job and kept it from rolling down to low.

I did a couple double fist pumps with jersey zipped up tight and one final shoulder check a la cyclo cross to finish first in front of a very empathetic home town crowd in front of my friends, Natasha and my dad on Fathers day, so it was a big one for me. Especially since a few years ago I finished second just shy of the win, it's nice to come back and seal the deal. So i was pretty ecstatic with victory celebration across the line, I was pumped and just couldn't help the celebration.

DSJ

France

2009-06-21T10:04:00.004-04:00

Although Tash was a little down after getting sick and not having a stellar Tour of PEI I think it worked out for the best. After Natasha crushed it in the break at PEI, she obviously got noticed, and she was invited to go to France to do two stage races in a few weeks. So she will be wearing National team clothing again, this time on the road which was one of the objectives of the season as well. So we're pretty happy for her as she's obviously been working hard, but for some reason on the road things just haven't went her way as of yet.

Hopefully things start to turn around from here for her.
So she'll be in Paris n the last day of the Tour, but i think the only thing she'll see of the Tour is the traffic and ticker tape. So now we just have to find her some cash to pay for the ticket and we're set. SO I guess maybe I'll have a bit more incentive to go for some primes in the next couple weeks, especially if they are giving tickets to France...well maybe not but one can hope.
I guess this will give Tash more incentive to start reading her intro to french book she bought at Chapters a few weeks ago.

On deck today is Preston st Crit. We've been chillin at Casa Norm and Jane in the Westborough as we have a room here as well and are making ourselves more and more like Gypsies. Jane is down at Mooney's racing dragon boat and just came third in the semi's.

Hopefully the sun comes out and the rain ends as I generally ride better when it's sunny, maybe it's just in my head, but that's the way it is.

Derrick

Tour de Beauce....exceeding expectataions

2009-06-15T09:18:00.006-04:00

Well I'll try to go over the last couple days without too much detail but still giving a little bit of what was going through my mind.
So we woke up to rain the morning of the TT, as I was getting ready, Phil noticed the tubular on the disk wheel was not glued right, I ripped it off with my hands...ut oh...oh well, I used only the deep dish wheels for the TT, but it may not have been a bad choice as I rode a solid ride to keep my GC place. I could have probably went a little faster at the start, but hey it was pretty sketchy.

(Above pics courtesy of Can Cyclist, Rob Jones, rolling the break in Quebec and going for the Blue Jersey in QC city)

The crit. Well it was really the only part of the race that sucked, because they were not counting it for the GC, because apparently that is a UCI regulation. SO I decided that if an opportunity to arose to get in a break I'd take it but only if it was right there and even at that I would do the square route of SFA and just try to podium. Well the break went and Ryan (ROth) got in it but he came back to the pack and told me it was so frigin hard, so I knew I made a good decision to stay at the back and just carry my speed through the corners and basically somehow use the crit as a recovery ride.

So Natasha came back from PEI on Friday and the great people at Louis Garneau made sure the condo was opened for her upon her arrival. I think she was pretty impressed when she walked in as like I've said it's got pics of Louis and trophies and it's a really nice place.
The mechanic Seb drove me to the condo in BMW and i thought he was going to rip it up but drove slower i do, so it wasn't as fast as I thought it was going to be.

Winning the stage in Quebec city has been my dream for a long time. This year was no different, I actually told Louis I would try to win the stage there. Phil and myself started attacking the shit out of the race on the second and third lap. Otavio, the Brazilian followed the move and 13 guys were off. It was pretty cool to not only be in the break but have had a clear tactic going in, the properly executed the first part. At the first time check we had 40 seconds, then all of a sudden we had 5minutes. Woh. I was only 650 down on GC, potentially if I played my cards right this could move me up to 5th in the GC. So I was rolling the break through without being too obvious tht I was hyper motivated to keep the gap as high as possible since I was by far the best seated in the GC. But also wanted to win the stage. I tried to communicate with Otavio a little during the race but it wasn't as effective as I would have liked.

So 2 laps to go. Guys are hitting it pretty hard, wait, be patient, pick my opportunity. So cover moves. 1 lap to go, I go to take a pull , I roll through and no one is there, so I click down a couple gears and just start riding away with 8km to go. A couple guys join, we roll we get caught. I go again after Cam Evens, we roll, we get caught, 5km to go, as we get caught there is a slight pause and I go a 3rd time, no one comes, press into the pedals harder and harder and then I get my chance. All or nothing please legs please, i press harder and harder and harder and it hurts alot. Push, pull, push, pull, just a little faster, push pull 120%, I look over my shoulder as I round the final 1500 meters and I have a good gap, i start ascending the final climb and there are thousands of people screaming...i look there is no one, 1km to go, look and there are two FLy V guys, Otavio is about 6 people back, he lets them go, I yell for him to go but he does not, we waits, then he goes, I recover then go, 120% effort for the last 500meters and I end up 4th just shy of my podium. Shit. Oh well I can't say I wish ed I would have came 3rd as a podium for me is more important for carding reasons, but I went for it and I have o regrets, I went for it my way AND IT ALMOST WORKED. SO whatever. I go to win, I put myself on the line for the team to win, and I have no regrets about my tactic as it was perfect in that scenario and still yielded a good result.

THe last stage, I had moved up to 10th on the GC and I wanted to move into top the 8. SO I tried to getmyself into another break and we tried to launch Otavio off the front again. He got a gap with 3 laps to go but then sat up as he was pretty knackered. I payed for my efforts and eat shit up the 1km climb from Nationals last year that was repeated 12 times, and I tasted the pain in sour beads of salted sweat roll down face. The race was insanely hard. 80 started, 37 finished.
I was in the main group on the last lap and two guys rolled away, there were some attacks. I just waited and went at the end, I was a little too far back at the start of the climb but muscled myway to 8th in the uphill sprint.

So results for the week, 4th, 8th, 11th and 10th in the GC, also top Canadian and 11th in points(which was also the last money spot). I think if I took every result I've ever had in cycling and put them all together multiplied them by about 5, this week is still better. Not only that but Tasha got to see me ride and almost get it in QC city. And the team's performance is absolutely fantastic, Louis is so happy, we were happy and it was awesome.

It's so funny, cause really three is not so much different than before. I just believe in what I am doing and commit myself 120%. Sure I am really lean, and a bit retentive about certain aspects of m eating and stuff and I did make a coaching change and sometimes I don't even plug my SRM in anymore. I just make a goal (that is realistic) and I just do it. It's not really about a secret training program, cause I actually just kind of do what feels right and and talk to Dan to get the basics and if I feel like I need to do something then I do it. It probably helps that I've done the race a few times now and I know the courses and I ride with my head not my legs as well. I think it's just about confidence of knowing you belong, and going after what is yours like anything in life. Really it's not that complicated, it's just a bike race, we aren't trying to reinvent the wheel, just trying to figure out how to get that wheel to cross the finish line first or in the best position possible for that day.

Think about it.

DSJ

Beauce-day 2 Theford Mines...day 3 the Mega Megantic

2009-06-11T18:25:00.002-04:00

So here is how yesterday's stage played out. For me, as I was 10th in GC be smart...recover, save energy, not go for any sprint or kom points. So I did. What made it even easier is my roomate, Phil Cortes, put himself into a 3 man break and took second on the stage, holding it by only a few meters from a charging and I mean charging pack!

Other than our Director hitting a guy from Trek LivesStrong.

So, today was the big one...Mont Megantic. My plan was to just be conservative and use as little energy once again until the summit of the climb. Abreak of 20 guys rolled away and got 3 minutes on the field, but I was climbing well and finished perhaps 8th of the pack which had all the GC guys, well the main ones anyways. I think I may have lost one position or so in the GC and I would be 11th or so now. So still hanging in there, try to do a good TT tomorrow and then take it from there.

Don't really have lots to say as the racing is obviously hard and it's about racing and not alot of energy left to tell stories. Well maybe around the dinner table...which is soon. The food is same as last year and the year before...have stayed away from badness food of one more day.

But today I did endeavor into using half a pound of Swedish Berries instead of gels as I'll run out soon. I did also get to use the Dura Ace carbon low profile wheels, which will not be coming off until the end of the tour.

I just wish I could find some of those candy bananas.

DSJ

Tour de Beauce, day 1 Lac Etchemin

2009-06-09T16:24:00.002-04:00

Well day one is in the books. Few, cause it was tough.
The plan was, well we'd just try to put at least one in the break and roll with it.
I covered some moves, the boys covered some then I covered another and one more and that was it. A group of 10 or 11, we broke away at about 50 km into the 165km stage...
So that was 100 km off the front, and as always never easy here in Beauce.
It was a little bit of a cluster this am, as we were slightly unorganized, we only had 2 radios and I didn't get one and we never really sorted out the feed zone. Actually a pretty huge lack of communication, as we did have someone in the feed zone, but with water and no food...so...yah.
And as I didn't have a radio I dropped back to get a feed and suffered for 5km to get back on, which was totally lame as at this level you just can't waste any bullets.

Although I have to admit that I did what I said i wasn't going to do and got into the sprints and kom's. I popped with 5km to go, lost a little time and think I ended up 11th on the stage. But I think I got a time bonus for the sprint so top 10 in GC? I said I wasn't going for a GC, since that's just agonizing as you have to put good rides together all week which is super hard...but we'll see.

So did I say it was hard...well I guess that's no surprise and mixed in a little ill timing, excited sprints and I'm not totaly shocked that I popped at eh crunch time. But hey, c'est la vie. I'll have to figure out what the main focus will be for the week as being scatter brained here is not good, at all. I feel like I had 4 Red Bulls, although I have had none. I was counting on everyone being tiered from Philly and not chasing today, so I guess I was kind of right, they chased, hard, but didn't come back.

So here is the big question...will there be at least one photo where I look good in pink...time will tell. If you're interested Canadian Cyclist has updates during the race. I can't promise that I'll get in another break tomorrow, but hey you never know...Oh yah and I think I'm number 2 Canadian in GC...not bad for a man nurse?

In other news Tasha had a crasha today ...but she's ok, apparently some one went down in front of her and she could not avoid it...she chased forever, but at least she's really good at that!
She was hopping on the bus for dinner. It sounds like it is just her butt and legs, no face injury...few! She said her Cross foe Hanka K was all bloodied up in the face, ouch!
DSJ

LG in the house...

2009-06-08T17:02:00.002-04:00

Greetings cycling fans. Well the last few days have been very interesting to say the least.
With Tasha gone to PEI I had to fend for myself in Cornwall and already started missing her on Friday. I did a ride with the Cornwall boys on Saturday and it was really cool to ride with a different gang and do a good ride before heading to Beauce, in which I will be racing the Tour for the third consecutive year with the LG formation.

Louis (Garneau) invited me to stay at the Condo across from the Factory in St Augustin, right where Montreal-Quebec finishes. Once there I met up with J Schiller and Otavio Bogarhelli from Brazil. His English is pretty good but we are trying to corrupt him and show him all kinds of slang like...well, all kinds. The condo is pretty boss as well. There is enough room to sleep 2 entire teams, and there are pictures of Louis in his hay day, racing all over the World, some really cool photography and medlas, trophies plaques that the team have won so far. Pretty frigin cool. Not to mention Louis, who is a super cool guy, for a millionaire kind of franchise mogul.

Today we met up with another LG teamate Aroussen and we did a few laps of the MTL-Quebec finishing circuit and did some pace line and I almost had a heart attack as we were cruising!

Off to the LG factory to pick up my kit bag for the race. N ow I'm going to add some pretense to this. Usually I get a pretty sweet bag, but this year, you have no idea how spoiled I was. They asked me for my shoe size and bike measurements and they were going to put together a full Dura Ace road and tt bike for me. I was a little hesitant of this as I 'm sensitive with equipment, in the fact that I need certain measurements, but I did accept test out some Dura Ace wheels and Vittoria tubs, no problem on that!

So I won't waste your time with all the details but I basically got three bags full of pink gear! I think they are hoping I will do a good tour as I have never ever had so much unwrapping to do in one day. Don't get me wrong my current sponsors take very good care of me, I love the Opus that I ride and I think the RWR kits are are great and Glen has done his best to support me, not just with stuff but also in more of emotional kind of support and personal support which are ultimately more important than swag. But I have to say it's really fun to crack open 3 sets of bib shorts, two helmet boxes, sun glasses, dufflebag, countless socks, gloves, jacket...track suit, tee shirts...I could go on but alas time is of the essence.

Anyways, I was a little hesitent to open all the bags as I have have worked hard for everything that I have in cycling and feel like I was given all this stuff for just a week. Last year I did a whole season on one new kit and a used skinsuits! But I frigin have smile on my face ear to ear. Ok maybe I won't be able to use some of it past this week, but none the less, it just makes you feel good. So after cracking open all the stuff, Sandra , Louis assistant, who is so helpful, told us we could lunch in the caferteria for free as well.
One of my goals this year was to get at least one new skin suit, (I think I have 3 or 4 now) and not not look fat in at least one picture, as for some reason I look fatogenic.

So skinsuit check, fingers crossed that there are a few good pics this week. Results? Basically I found that when you look good , results follow as you are confident, haha. ALso I think my hair is good this week, feeling very think as the conditionner is really good. Not as good as Curt Harnett's hair back in the Pert days, more like Ed Norton in Fight Club.

So what is the moral to this story? I'm not really sure. I work hard for this. That's all I know. Wheather or not I get one kit or two or three, it doesn't really change my desire to perform, that is constant. Sure it makes me happy to feel special to get all this attention, who wouldn't?
But it does feel good to get some stuff everynow and then when you work so hard to get where you are. It's kind of like my racing results, I've earned every single podium I have stepped on.
There have been no flukes, just hard work. For real.

Also the boys noticed I was more tanned than the Brazillian, way to go Cornwall!
Derrick

I spoke to Tasha she said the TT was "ok" in PEI, she's still not 100%, but I think she'll come around as the Tour goes on. She is having good times in PEI and said it is beautiful there.

DSJ wins GP Charlevoix!

2009-06-01T22:21:00.003-04:00

"High five"...as Borrat would say for sure.
Man where to start. Well I could tell you about the funny week I had, renewing my drivers licence, that apparently was expired in 2008, who knew I thought it said 2009. I guess my sister getting stopped for not having her seat belt was a blessing in disguise as it made me check my licence, must run in the family. Good thing I drive like Miss Daisy.

So, back to Charlevoix. I knew it was going to be a good weekend for a few reasons.
1) I had a really good horoscope in the Sun, so good that I cut it out and carried it with me to the race.
2) I had some good hair. I used some conditioner this week and Natasha commented on the thickness of my hair, and obviously that's a really good thing.
3) When I spoke to Dan P(coach), I told him I would send him a picture of the podium, this weekend as I decided I wanted to win this race as soon as I committed to doing it.
4) Third time is a charm.
5) I had my sweet new Sidi shoes, which are really fast I have decided. And since I paid for them, that's no BS, as I could say they sucked if I wanted to, but they are BOSS, so there, go buy a pair of SIDI shoes cause if I have to pay for something, you know it's good.

Back to the story...I was feeling pretty good on Saturday, even when Glen told me the guys were running a little late, so I had to chill for a few hours outside of Starbucks/Sushi Stop in Pointe Claire Friday. Then I didn't ride Friday as we arrived there a little late, so again I didn't panic and just did some yoga burn in the hotel room in my boxer shorts.
Also tried not to panic when I was in the car and I thought I had a gastro as I had the urge to throw up really bad, but I eat some rice crisipie squares and it went away, good thing it wasn't the other way around.

So Saturday...
TT-push-pull-go fast.
Crit_Line..go fast don't break pedal through corners and make the front group to gain a few seconds.

Sunday...well for a 117 km race, it was damn hard. It felt like there was more up then down, as there was as we had a 10 km downish descent home from the hill top finish.
Anytime I have ever won a race there have always been three things consistent, 1) pain, 2) not feeling 100% 3) well can't tell you that one...anyways apparently everything was right for me on this day.
There was obviously lots going on in the race, and swear to God, the 3 hr 36 min and 8 seconds it took to complete this arduous endeavour I did not loose focus, not once, not for one second. i knew going in that because there was a KOM, the RR and battle for GC, if I tried to do too much I would end up with nothing. Boily attacked I responded, so did Bell, we got a gap Boily opened a gap to Bell and I, looked to see everyone's position on the climb and just crushed the pedals to get across the gap that he had opened. We rode a hard steady metronome rhythm up the climbs and it was tortuous to us both. We carried a good beat on the flats and i rode well in the wind.

Man we almost got caught...coming into the village before the second KOM, we could see the chasers, we talked a little, rode tempo on the flat and just felt like we rode the absolute perfect tempo pace up the climb. Put it this way, we had merely 20 seconds at the bottom, then we had 1 min 30 at the top. We were not even tempted to fight for the kom points as an acceleration could have not only damage our rhythm but could have compromised the stage and the race. We just crushed ourselves and in the end rode to the line, glued to each others wheels maximizing the time between us and the field. I crossed the line, counted 15 seconds and no one was in sight we had finished with 1min 38 on the field, I raised my arms in Victory, as Boily celebrated his stage win, I lifted my arms in the air as I heard the announcer say "Derrick ST John de Ride with Rendall est le nouveau leader et a provisoirement gange le GC".

I gave a few quick interviews in French for news the paper and radio http://veloptimum.net/velonouvelles/9/ART/6juin/Soleil1.htm
drank a couple chocolate milk and bananas and yah that was aobut it, had some good stories and smiles on the way home.

So, it was nice. I'm happy about it, I got the jersey, the trophy the flowers and a few bucks and I didn't sound all cracked out in my interview, funny that I give a better interview in French, don't understand that at all. Not only that but i did a good race and think both Boily and I were rewarded for our work and once again the racing was hard but it was fair.

I think this is my best victory to date and it's a good feeling that I am still developing and the races in which I am winning are getting to be a step up. Good resluts are good, but there is nothing quite like winning. This is big for me. Thanks to the guys for being around this weekend. It wasn't really a race where your teamates could "work" for you, unless they pushed you up the hills, so good on all the Elite guys for riding right to the line.
I had trouble pushing 145 lbs up those climbs so I can't even imagine pushing a 6 foot frame up those hills....
Funny story... Casey only had a 25 tooth cog and his derailer was messed up so he was riding up the climbs in a massive gear... bet you he's gonna be sore.

Nash put in a good TT, also Nathan Underwood from Sask who has joined our team finished top10 in the GC and not to mention all the RWR Master guys who were rocking the race and basically dominated a lot of the other categories.
Send your wishes to Tash as she is on her way to feeling better, I'm glad she maid the right choice.
DSJ

No MSR

2009-06-01T11:33:00.003-04:00

So the decision was made with the help from my coach and teammates, definitely don't start the Montreal Stage Race today were the words of wisdom. I woke up this morning stepped on the scales and saw that now my weight had dropped a total of 7lbs since Saturday morning. This was not what I wanted to see and not even sure how it was even possible as I didn't throw up at all, it was all out the other way. I was still tossing and turning last night and my recovery from doing 11 laps of 110k on Saturday up Mount royal consisted of eating one piece of toast and a glass of OJ yesterday. I guess with my new found lightness I can be the climber that I always wanted to be, not sure how many less watts I'll need to push out going over hills now but I'm sure it will be significant.
Derrick is staying in Ottawa for the next few days and I was pretty mad at him over the last 12 hours as I really needed someone to talk to and maybe cry on there shoulder. He ended up winning the GC at Charlevoix which is a huge win for him and I'm glad he finally got an amazing weekend of racing in, he really deserves it. On his way home last night he decided to stay with the RWR team and go to Ottawa instead of coming back home to Cornwall. I was a little hard on him, but more because I had no one to help me out. I've laid on the couch since Saturday night trying to sleep here and there between my stomach swishing around and aching thinking of ways I could be 100 % to race again today. Obviously there is no magical solution. These next two weeks of racing were super important to me. It wasn't an easy decision to skip out on Montreal and it wasn't an easy time going to do the World Cup on Saturday not feeling 100 % and having no fight to stay near the front of the race. I really wanted a top 20/25 finish and I feel like every year I am so unlucky at the races I want to well at. It's not about choking or anything, it's pure unluckiness, I get sick right before or during these event. I feel like I replay the same events every year, but each year I am that much fitter and know what kind of results I can produce when I am 100%. Everything is there on paper, all I need is for one of those days that I am super rested for important race, is for me to not be sick. I absolutely hate having excusing or someone asking me how a race went and I say oh I was sick, most of the time they really don't truely understand the situation or believe you. Like even last night when my team manger called up, he was understandable but he didn't really get it. He said are you sure it wasn't just nerves. Ah nope, the water coming out of me for 24 hours was not nerves especially after the race was over, and my stomach making noises that I've never heard before, yep that wasn't nerves either. The sweats and cold chills, pretty sure that wasn't nerves. Anyways, like I said, he was still understandable and the communication barrier is always hard to over come (English to French) and also having to tell him I have diarrhea isn't easy, but to really explain the diarrhea is even harder. I just told him I had lost 7 lbs in a day and hope he understands what kind of pain and suffering that required.
When Derrick's Mom was sick last week, I should of got as far away as possible from Cornwall as I could. I figured this year with getting to race the WC and two stages races I would be able to get at least one or few good days in. On the positive note, I knew PEI was my best shot to do well so I guess all I can do is rest up for that and be 100%. It's funny for the first time I am listening to what people tell me. Dan, my coach, said just take it easy for the next 3 days even if I am itching to ride hard. On the plus side if all goes well I can hammer again by Wednesday and get ready for PEI. Sounds like a good compromise for me.
NCE

High 5- World Cup

2009-05-31T08:39:00.004-04:00

If you know Derrick, you know that he has a need to impersonate everyone. One of his impersonations that he does all the time is Borat saying "hi five". So for the last 3 laps of the world cup yesterday in Montreal that's all that stuck in my head as one of the girls in the group with me had this sponsor written across the back of her shorts saying "High Five Nutrition". I couldn't get Borat out of my head.

The world cup results weren't that great but I finished, and compared to last year that's a big improvement. Out of 112 starters, 62 finished and 33 of them weren't over the time limit. It was raining again yesterday morning and all I could picture in my head was last years crash at the start of the decent. As we started the race the skies cleared up but the roads were still wet and there were a few crashes here and there. I even got a chop to my ribs by rider as I told her I was moving in to avoid the gates through the start finish and she told me to F off and then gave a shot with her fist to my ribs......nice. I had a super hard time keeping my position on the fast technical downhills and flats to the start/finish line and start of the climb each lap. First 3 laps were a success on the climb and I was in the top 20 or so and on the third lap it split and I was in the top 15. Although Emma Pooley was off the front from the gun, the race was still on to chase her. The pack came back together on the downhill again and I found myself going backwards towards the start of the next lap and climb. It was all strung out and for whatever reason for the first couple laps I was so cautious in the turns as I had my rear wheel fish tale a few times and couldn't find the right breaking power. I think I was some how thinking I was on a cross bike and kept on using both the front and rear break causing the rear wheel to fish tale. Anyways we start the climb on the 4th lap of 11 and I am not in the pack anymore and ride through about 50 girls going up the climb to eventually get in the pack I pretty much finish with but I couldn't get back into the top 40. The pack that I am in doesn't want to work together so later on I get off with a teammate and 3 other girls and luckily we did as we were pretty much the last group to get to finish the race. I win our group sprint and end up 46th overall but over the time limit. The group for top 35 was just in front and we spent the last 3 laps seeing them at the turn around consistently 1 minute in front of us.

So not bad for my second WC on the road and first one I finished. I got to say thanks to all the Ottawa fans and also my parents that I had cheering for me on the climb, it was nice to see some familiar faces when I was thinking should I finish or call it a day and not dig a hole for the next two weeks of stage racing.

Speaking of digging a hole, once again Derrick's Mom and youngest nephew were sick with a stomach flu (yeah, diarrhea and vomiting, that fun stuff). This was last week and I spent all week panicking that I was going to get it. Sure enough Friday at 5 am, my stomach awoke me doing circles and I force fed myself all day on Friday refusing to throw up. I had nausea and a huge splintering headache all day and night. Saturday morning was the same thing when I ate my breakfast before the WC. I pounded it back and then the only other think I had before the race (noon start) was a power bar. I spent the first 3 laps trying not to throw up in my mouth and no it wasn't because the pace was so high. Maybe my cornering skills were slightly off cause of the nausea, who knows. Last night and this morning violent pains started to attack my stomach until I couldn't hold it in any longer and have ran to the bathroom, oh about 10 times since 8 am this morning and it is only 9 o'clock as I type this post.

So here is the thing, in the past I would just suck things up and as long as I'm not running to the bathroom tomorrow and I can physically do the race I would start the stage race in Montreal. Probably not racing to my full potential for about 3 days and then setting myself a little back on recovering for the PEI stage race that starts on next Sunday. Any advice on what I should do? My team has no pressure on us for any of these races, that was the first thing our manager told us yesterday morning before the world cup. He said "so here is the team plan for today, you guys do your best and there is no pressure or anything on you, if you have to drop out that is okay, we are not a professional team and we are just here to learn from our experiences". It was probably the nicest thing he couldn't of possibly said to us before the race and in turn we probably had our best results yet for the WC from the team with 3 of us finishing but over the time cut.

So let me know on any comments or thoughts, I guess it all depends on how long the running to the bathroom lasts and how much food I can keep down to day to recover from yesterdays race and prepare for the next two stage races. I did weigh myself this morning to find out I have lost almost 5 lbs in 1 day........not good. Should I skip out on the stage race that starts tomorrow in Montreal and ends on Thursday and be fully ready to go at PEI next Sunday, or suck it up and do them both?

I talked to Derrick last night as he is at the Charlevoix GP, he finished 5th in the TT yesterday only 2 or 3 seconds off of second and 13 off of first, so he will start the road race today and be in full contention of winning the race. I wish him all the best and will be thinking of him all day. I know his stomach was doing some circles on Friday as well, hopefully he was stronger than me and isn't sick today.

NCE

Diggity

2009-05-25T10:47:00.006-04:00

Hey Blog fans. I think Natasha is about this close to loosing it! She's running around the office wearing blue wooly slippers flexing her little chicken legs. It's pretty funny actually cause this time last year she was almost in a state of panic before the World Cup. It's amazing to see how people handle stress differently as they evolve through out the years. Not sure if I said this before but now, when she walks up to the podium, she's so relaxed, smiling, happy. What a change from a few years ago, where upon walki9ng up to the podium she looked like Alison form Cycle 10 America's Next Top Model walking down the runway(not good).

What does that have to do with diggity? Not really sure...What does anything have to do with anything really for that matter? Ok, I'm starting to feel like Jean Paul Satre laying the foundations for Existentialism through blogging, but even Radio Head tried that in their video for "Just" you know the one with all the people laying in the street.

It's amazing what taking a weekend off racing can do for energy levels...either that or I've had way too much coffee this morning. That's debatable. Word on the street is that RWR is going to have a a new guest rider very soon. I can't let the cat out of the bag, it's Aaron Fillion, but all I can say is that he is going to be a babies daddy June 5th, he used to be a teammate of mine, he is super strong and he used to ride for the OBC. Sorry that's all I can say about that, no more clues.

What else is new? Well I noticed that my shoes were falling apart, well Shawn Clarke actually said he noticed the back of my trustee Shimano shoes were cut and carbon was hanging off the sole...so I figured it was time to pony up for a new pair. We don't have a shoe sponsor this year, so I figured if I 'm actually gonna have a buy a pair, I'll get the cats meow shoes....

Yah that's what I said...When Mike Flavor Flavel crackle lacka opened the boxed, I was so excited, I couldn't even get the buckle open for a few moments.

Which I may say, Mike knows more about frigin shoes, pedals, and bikes than almost anyone I know.

Alright....later. I gotta go look at my shoes.