Season Greetings

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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